Paradise for the Lost
by liar.faker
Summary: AU. Elena goes hysterical, Caroline stays bright and optimistic, Klaus lurks in the darkness with his trident while Kol is leading a normal life in Los Angeles. Stopping Apocalypse from happening has never seemed so difficult.
1. i found myself within a forest dark

**A/N: **So yeah, back again with a new story that makes me nervous, because I am way too excited while writing it. If you have read my "Hell if I Know" you are aware that I'm a fan of a humorous Heaven-Hell kind of stuff.

I got inspired by a documentary movie about the end of the world, and also by a certain novel... I'm curious if you can guess the title. :)

The first chapter is a kind of prologue, as always.

* * *

**Paradise for the Lost**

...

_**i found myself within a forest dark**_

...

(\o/)

_Midway upon the journey of our life,_

_I found myself within a forest dark,_

_For the straight foreward pathway had been lost._

_[Dante's Inferno]_

(\o/)

Bushes and branches scratch her bare legs while she's trying to get through a dark forest. Her erratic breath and her own footsteps are the only things she's hearing, they're echoing in her head driving her crazy. When a wolf's howling pierces her ears, Caroline's arms squeeze around a small bundle, pressing it to her chest.

"It's gonna be okay, buddy." She whispers, more to comfort herself than the baby she's holding, because the last thing you can say about the kid is that he's afraid. Quite the opposite really, he seems rather boldly indifferent to the menacing creatures of the night. He even _burps_, obviously bored. Of course he instinctively _doesn't_ fear any monster, Caroline sighs, he would rip the wolf apart if he knew who he really is.

But he never will.

(\o/)

She was supposed to 'get rid' of the baby before it gets to Earth. This is what you do with the Trigger, they said. Antichrist? Well, not really. It's all about this last big party, you know. _Armageddon_. The world is not ready for it. Not yet. We have to postpone it, we have to get rid of the Trigger. You have to do it, Caroline.

But she couldn't.

She could never 'get rid' of a baby, even if it's evil to the bone, even if it means her death, even if it's a Prince of Hell. One of four, to be exact. The youngest son, the Trigger of Apocalypse.

Elena did a great job stealing the kid from his family. One of his brothers, Elijah, would disagree of course, but what would you expect from a devil that got seduced by an angel and then got betrayed in the worst way possible? Elijah─the most honourable among those bastards but also the most cruel when push comes to shove─will never forgive Elena.

Caroline stops for a moment and looks down at the toddler stolen from the Enemy. Just a normal boy. Doesn't cry at all, just gurgles to himself from time to time. What if he lives as a human boy, has a human home, human parents; what if Caroline hides him in a small town in the middle of nowhere? If he lives safely hidden, he'll never know about his real identity and power. And he'll just lead _a totally normal life,_ among normal people, without causing trouble such as the Apocalypse. Or drunk-drving.

There's a house on the edge of the woods, _a totally normal house_-a perfect house for _a totally normal boy_, Caroline grins. She closes her eyes and uses her power to see who's living inside. Esther Mikaelson, a single woman. Lonely.

She would love to have a son, Caroline nods to herself with absolute certainty.

(\o/)

First, there's a knocking at Esther's door.

Then, there's a baby at her porch, wrapped in fabric and gurgling. A baby boy.

"Poor thing," Esther gasps. "Do you have a name?" She takes the baby inside and starts to rock him in her arms.

"Let's see. How should I name you then?" Esther murmurs softly.

(\o/)

**21 YEARS LATER**

"KOL MIKAELSON!" Elena's shaking, every feather of her snow-white wings is moving.

"His name is Kol Mikaelson!" She spits, brandishing her finger at Caroline's nose. "He's very much alive! And his twenty-first birthday is next month!"

Caroline gulps. Well, she was really hoping to keep it secret. It just turned out that the angels had their spies (don't you think they play fair, you can't win against the forces of evil without breaking a rule or two) and now Caroline has to clean the mess she made twenty-one years ago.

All the angels have always considered her too careless. Too joyful. Brighter than light.

Disobedient.

She prefers singing to playing the harp, she likes dancing and flying, not standing in the choir line. She's a blonde bubble of happiness. Elena, on the other hand, is a martyr, always worrying about the others, always so _proper_, and she _cries_ way too much. When their superior, Bonnie, made them work together ("Your personalities complement each other perfectly" was a very, _very_ cruel joke on her part) both angels cringed in pain.

"Come on, Elena. I'll take care of it." The blonde smiles nervously. "No need to tell the Boss, right?"

She's never really seen the Boss, but something's telling her He's not _that_ forgiving when it comes to bringing Armageddon ahead of time.

"If you mess it up again," Elena's nostrils flare, and to Caroline she looks like a really pissed off seagull right now, "then the Final Battle will begin. And in the current rotten state of the human world..." She pauses for the better effect, "We'll lose it." She takes a deep breath, and then adds with teary eyes, "And our wings will be taken away."

Oh you drama queen you.

If you ask Caroline, Elena is one of those angels that overreact quite often. You should have seen her when her favourite earthly basketball team lost the championships last year. The hole she made in Mount Everest is still there.

But this time, Elena cries, it's not just a _match_. The most important battle in the history is at stake, most probably the last one. A clash of the two champion teams.

Elena's hand grabs the collar of Caroline's robe, and the dark-haired angel hisses,

"He has to survive his birthday, Care." Her fists clench around the white fabric.

(Elena is a doomsday believer.)

"Okay!" Caroline stutters. "I'll fix it. He'll be alright."

(And Caroline is a firm believer in happy endings.)

"You're lucky The Enemies don't know."

The blonde bites her lip. It's just a month. The Enemies remain in Hell playing with all kinds of sinners and stuff, so she'll just lie low and look after Kol for a while, and then the problem will be solved. This time instead of killing him she just has to keep him alive.

She already did it once.

So no big deal, right?

(\o/)

"Los Angeles?" Caroline sighs as she puts her sunglasses on. "Seriously?"

Kol Mikaelson, the Fourth Prince of Hell and the Trigger of Apocalypse, moved to the City of Angels from the little town of Mystic Falls some time ago. Caroline can't help but smirk at the irony.

She doesn't know much about the human world. She's heard this and that, seen some places, but watching people from above and _actually_ living down there among them are two completely different things. Anyway, she's a quick learner.

Miraculously, Kol happens to be looking for two flatmates. Caroline rubs her hands with satisfaction when all those who were going to answer Kol's ad by a strange twist of fate don't make it to the apartment. Some of them get stuck in a traffic jam or miss the bus, the others get the wrong address.

(What? Sometimes you have to help your luck, you know.)

Kol raises an eyebrow when he opens the door and sees only one person, a blonde girl around his age with a wide smile plastered on her face, wearing a simple white dress reaching her knees.

"Hi!" She beams at him and extends her hand. "I'm Caroline."

"Kol." He lets her in and crosses his arms. Someone woke up on the wrong side of bed today, Caroline muses. "Listen, I'm already late for work. So if you want to only look around, have some tea and biscuits and a nice talk about unicorns and shit, and just simply leave, then don't bother. I'm running out of money and I need someone who's already set on living here."

Caroline pouts. How rude of you, mister. The sweet-but-devilish toddler she rescued long time ago grew up to be a handsome young man with an absolute lack of manners.

(She blames the genes.)

"I know everything about unicorns." She shrugs. That's actually quite true. Her favourite one, Charlie, has golden hooves. "And I do want to live here. I really really do. As, how do you call it? A flat-mate?"

Never in his life has Kol Mikaelson seen such a creepy girl. There is something about her that seems... out of this world. He has to blink twice to get back to reality. Well, maybe she's a Mormon.

"You're... _not from here_, right?" He frowns.

"Not really." Her blonde curls bounce when she shakes her head.

Kol sighs brushing one hand through his hair. "Whatever. So let me quickly show you your room, okay?"

(\o/)

They leave the formal stuff concerning the rent for the evening. While Kol is off working (as a _bartender_! Caroline's outraged. Alcohol is the devil's tool after all.) the angel tries to learn the basics. Living on Earth can't be _that_ difficult. People have been doing this for centuries. Millenia even. Unfortunately there's no "Life on Earth for Dummies" on Kol's bookshelf so she takes the liberty of peeping into his room. Whatever he needs as a human, she will need it too, right? Let's see.

Clothes, of course. It's been a while since people were running naked in the Garden of Eden.

Books: economics, social science, political science, manipulation. "You evil, evil man." Caroline flinches with utter disgust. It seems that humanity has truly... evolved.

Then she finds a bag of cookies. Food! Obviously, as a human she needs to eat! She takes the last cookie from the bag and, slowly and carefully, brings it to her nose. The small chocolate bits smell good. She takes a bite and starts chewing.

And this is what she could call heaven on Earth. HEAVEN. She greedily devours the whole cookie and desperately looks around for one more bag. Her heart starts to beat faster. Tasty. Delicious! Oh yeah, she'll be going on a sugar high! Cookies... Cookies...

"Oh my─" She starts, but soon she remembers to control herself. In the back of her mind she sees Elena the Proper One scowling at her the way only Elena can, shaking her head disapprovingly: _gluttony_.

Caroline rolls her eyes. Fine.

She trudges to the living room and plops herself on the couch. If she can't eat those cookies, at least she can make herself comfortable in her new house.

(\o/)

When Kol gets home in the evening the first thing he sees is a pile of empty silver foils. And Caroline, with chocolate smeared all over her face and hands, sitting on the floor in the kitchen annexe, looking guilty.

''Um.'' She opens her mouth to explain herself, but then something catches her eye.

Wait a minute, not something. _Someone_. A man is standing behind Kol's back, smiling viciously at her. Even in the complete darkness she would recognize the aura surrounding him. His shadow that has a pair of horns although no human being can see it. The dark blue eyes that bore into hers telling her he _knows._ The stench of Hell accompanying him.

(Okay, the stench thing is false. He actually smells nice─like something hot and spicy.)

Still, he's one of Them.

An Enemy.

(\o/)

"Caroline, meet Klaus." Kol says to break the awkward silence. "Our flatmate. He'll take the last free room, the one next to yours."

"Nice to meet you, Caroline." The devil tilts his head slightly, and he extends his hand to help her get up from the floor. She lets him, trying to look as natural and normal as possible. She can't expose herself to Kol─and neither can her enemy. The man grabs her hand and yanks her up, pulling her close so his lips meet her ear for a second.

"You have chocolate on your chin, little angel." He whispers, smirking.

"Left your _trident_ at home, have you?" She bites back.

"So you've heard of me." The devil's smirk turns into a wide nasty grin. "Fantastic."

. . .

..

.

..

. . .

**A/N**: As I said, it's just a prologue. The story will unfold in the following chapters.

Rating may (and probably will) change.

**I really want to know your opinion. So let me know what you think maybe? **


	2. ignorance that harms you

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**ignorance that harms you**_

**...**

(\o/)

_O creatures foolish, _

_how great is that ignorance that harms you!_

_[Dante's Inferno]_

(\o/)

The first night after moving in Caroline can't sleep. Partly because of Klaus and his unexpected appearance, and partly because she doesn't _know_ how to do this. Technically, she has never slept before. In a weird daze, with her eyes closing but not ready to drift off, she spends some time eavesdropping to Kol's and Klaus' conversation.

Men, always teaming up.

They are sipping whiskey Kol brought from work to celebrate the end of his financial trouble. With two other people on board he can finally save some money. And living alone isn't fun anymore. He and Klaus seem to be getting along pretty well, Caroline notices.

"What you're doing for a living?" Kol hiccups.

"Imma paint-ah." Klaus says, playing with his almost empty glass, and Caroline's lip curls with anger. Of course they both have that posh accent. Pshhhh. Royalty. She bridles.

"Cool. Walls or pictures?" Kol earns a glare from his new flatmate.

"Pictures."

"I hope you'll get rich and famous soon so you can buy me a nice car for my birthday." Kol chuckles and pours both of them another drink.

Klaus laughs. "No problem." Of course it's the devil's plan, but sometimes she could swear Klaus is laughing genuinely, without any ulterior motive.

(Maybe because they are, in fact, _brothers_, although one of them is kept in the dark about it?)

Kol Mikaelson grew up to be not only a handsome guy with no manners whatsoever, but also a smart one with, what did he say? Ah, right, _ambitions_. All that books in his room aren't just to show off. He really reads them. Between pouring another drink for a client and watching another episode of the Penguins of Madagascar, Kol secretly dreams of ruling the world.

That's what scares Caroline. And makes Klaus proud.

(\o/)

When the lights go off and Kol is soundly asleep, Caroline sneaks out of her room and tiptoes to the kitchen. She's feeling this strange sensation in her stomach, like twisting and sucking from the inside. And it makes those noises, it... gurgles. All she knows is that she needs a cookie. Desperately.

She grabs a bag from Kol's stash and starts to impatiently fumble with it. Finally, all the cookies are hers, and she would laugh out loud maniacally if she wasn't an angel. Yeah, she has her standards.

Caroline is already halfway through the cookie pack, revelling in their divine taste and how they are crunching in her mouth, when the light flickers and she hears a rasping voice whispering to her ear,

"Hungry?"

She doesn't know how she stops herself from screaming. Instead, Caroline spins around to face the devil she met a few hours earlier. He's standing too close, with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, grinning at her wickedly. The girl assumes a defensive position and keeps her head up.

"Why are you here?" Her tone, no matter how bold and brave she tries to appear, still gives away her fear. When he takes a step forward and suddenly is right in front of her, towering over her tiny frame, Caroline shudders.

"The same reason you're here. Because my lost little bro is _miraculously_ alive, I'm here to celebrate his birthday." He smirks, but his eyes are dead serious. Caroline wonders whether he somehow knows it was her who saved Kol, but she's too afraid to ask.

"I'm afraid we have two different notions of celebrating." She crosses her arms.

"Indeed." He takes one of the cookies─her cookies!─and with just one bite it disappears in his mouth. Caroline is fuming while she's watching him slowly munching on the cookie.

"So what do you want?" She urges him.

"I'm getting my brother back."

Okay, this is quite confusing for Caroline. She frowns at him, her brain working at full steam.

"What? But, how? You can't just take him away. Well, actually, if you really want to then sure, go on, but _after_ his birthday."

Klaus stares at her in astonishment for a second or two, and then bursts out laughing.

"They didn't tell you, did they?"

"Tell me about WHAT exactly?" She pouts. This game is getting less and less fun if the rules are changing like that.

"Do you know why his twenty-first birthday is so important?" He raises an eyebrow, still chuckling. Caroline, sulky and befuddled, shakes her head.

"On his birthday, when the clock strikes midnight, I will stick a dagger in his heart, sending him back home where he belongs, and─as a side effect─also starting Apocalypse." He grins proudly like it was a kind of crazy family heritage. The cookie bag drops to the floor, along with Caroline's jaw.

"You will kill your own brother? It's insane!"

"Words, words." Klaus rolls his eyes. "Think about it as a super fast flight home. He won't die. Quite the contrary, he'll kind of wake up."

"You know I'm here to protect him, don't you?" Caroline lets out a deep breath. "So why are you telling me all this? Is this a part of your sick plan?"

He studies her tense face. She's determined, she's a fierce one. She'll fight and she'll die if she has to. Brave little thing.

"Because you won't stop me."

Her eyes light up with rage. "Oh you can be sure I'll stick that trident up your─"

"No, you won't." He lifts the cookie bag from the ground. "You can't, love. I am two thousand years old, I'm older than the oldest saint you've got up there. And you're simply a baby angel, fairly new one, inexperienced, even a bit lost I'd say. You can't beat me. I'm actually disappointed they sent _you_ on this mission."

Caroline's face goes beetroot red. Angry, indignant, offended. They didn't send her, she sent herself! But if she tells him the truth, if she admits that nobody knows, that she's alone here, he'll just kill her without even blinking.

"Well," she regains her composure, and grits her teeth, "you'll be surprised."

"I hope so." He wiggles his eyebrows playfully and pops another cookie into his mouth.

(\o/)

Supernatural problems aside, she has nothing to wear. The white dress isn't very comfortable, and it seems that on Earth people change clothes, like, everyday. It's a new thing for an angel who has spent all her life wearing just the same white robe.

All of a sudden, a melody resounds in her room.

_The moment I wake up, before I put on my make-up, I say a little pray for you!_

Caroline squints her eyes. What the─?

_While combing my hair now, and wondering what dress to wear now, I say a little prayer for you!_

Then she sees it. A pink cell phone is lying on her bed, _singing_ happily. She gingerly takes it and touches the screen where a green bubble is.

"Caroline!" Elena's voice attacks Caroline's ears before she can respond.

"'Lena? Seriously?" She grimaces.

"What? I'm moving with the times!"

Elena tells Caroline she's got a credit card (whatever it is) in her wallet. Which is inside her bag. Which is lying on her bed. The card is pink, and so is the bag. Caroline feels she has to have THE talk with Elena.

(\o/)

Caroline discovers tight jeans. And mini skirts. And high heels. It's good she doesn't see Elena's horrified face when she's buying another pair of shoes. Caroline walks in the sun, carrying over ten shopping bags in her hands, bathing it the sunlight, feeling more optimistic and positive than ever.

It's almost noon, so Kol's chilling before going to work, and Klaus is keeping him company. Dressed in a colourful (and quite short) summer dress, the blonde angel dances into Kol's flat. When she enters the living room humming "La Isla Bonita", Kol drops his drink while Klaus chokes on his beer. He has never seen legs like this. To be honest, she's as beautiful as a vision. Blonde curls are cascading on her shoulders, shining like pure gold. There's a wild feeling rousing inside his devilish body.

"What?" Caroline frowns, but soon the frown is replaced by a truly angelic smile. "Lovely weather outside, isn't it?" And she goes to her room, her hips swaying to a melody known only to her.

"Um." Kol gulps.

"Yeah." Klaus nods.

(\o/)

"I can't believe I'm sitting with you in the same car." The blonde pouts with disgust as Klaus plops on the cab seat next to her.

"You're living with me under the same roof. What's the difference?" He counters stating the obvious, and Caroline gives up. The only reason why she's putting up with Klaus right now is that Kol invited them to the club he works in, to meet his friends, to get to know each other better, to party and have fun. And she has to keep an eye on the naughty Prince of Hell anyway. Therefore Caroline has spent three hours flipping through the magazines, searching for some advice concerning her party outfit. She has to look like an average human girl_._ Finally she's settled for a tight jeans, high heels and a strapless top. Elena's probably dying of shame hiding between the clouds, Caroline thinks with a surprising satisfaction.

The club bears the proud name of "Paradise Lost" which makes both the angel and the devil roll their eyes. At the entrance they have to show cards Kol gave them, and─feeling like VIPs─they get inside. It's terribly dark there, with loud music blaring out and colourful lights flashing in all directions possible, and Klaus instantly feels at home. Caroline, on the other hand, gets incredibly tense in this den of vice. And that hellish music is tearing her brain apart.

Kol is waiting for them behind one of four bars, and all Caroline sees from the distance are two men sitting there with their backs turned to the dancing (if you can call so rubbing against other sweaty bodies in a frenzy) crowd.

"Meet my two friends, Matt and Tyler. We play basketball together." Kol points at a two guys at the bar. Caroline smacks her lips. One of them is blonde, with─if she sees it well in those lights─bright blue eyes and a cute smile. A boy-next-door kind of guy. The other is dark-haired, with brown eyes and sexy lips. A dangerous type, she concludes. Klaus shakes their hands, and Caroline just smiles shyly, sitting down by the counter, next to Klaus.

Caroline thinks something's wrong with her. She gets all those... _feelings_. Like that craving for cookies. Or fear. Or this different kind of happiness when she's going shopping. Right now she would die for a cup of coffee.

Klaus nudges her with his elbow, waking her up from her daze.

"What do you want to drink?" All her companions are looking at her with curiosity written all over their faces. Does she seem that strange to them?

"Coffee, please. Double milk, double sugar."

Their faces don't even twitch─frozen, with their eyes staring at her. Yeah, she must be an alien. Caroline blinks.

"We don't serve coffee here, Caroline." Kol says speaking to her like she was a nine-years-old girl wanting to bake a cake using cocaine instead of flour.

"Why?" She pouts.

"Because you're in a club, and in clubs people usually drink _alcohol_." Kol's patience seems to be wearing thin, but he's holding back. Caroline takes her time to think about what he told her, the frown on her forehead telling the assembled that she's processing the data.

"I'll stick with coffee." She half-declares, half-demands.

Tyler covers his smirk with the palm of his hand.

''Double milk, double sugar.'' Caroline repeats with emphasis.

Kol rolls his eyes, Klaus considers punching himself in the face, and Matt and Tyler just observe the girl with a growing interest.

This is going to be a long night.

(\o/)

Well past midnight she finds herself in the middle of the dancefloor with the dark-haired guy─Tyler? Tyler, right!─swaying to some slow beats. He's holding her by her waist while her hands rest on his shoulders.

(Kol added a lot of sugar to her coffee. Not that she minds being on a sugar high again. )

Caroline has never been that close with anyone, touching and dancing. Especially touching. Heaven is mostly about peace and quiet, not showing affection. And now she can feel Tyler's heart racing─or maybe it's hers? Since she started to live on Earth Caroline's been feeling different. Now she can add another feeling to her not-that-humble collection. It's this feeling of... excitement, yes. She feels this every time Tyler touches her, and it drives her mad. Then Matt joins them, and she thinks she's going to explode. The heat of two bodies that trap her on the dancefloor makes her head spin. Her stomach seems to be doing a triple somersault right now. Her breathing gets heavy and laboured, her mind goes fuzzy.

She doesn't understand it.

She's afraid of what can happen to her if she doesn't leave the dancing crowd.

Suddenly like she's gotten struck by a lightening, the blonde pushes both of them away and dashes towards the ladies room, brushing past the other people, gasping for air, seized by panic.

A pair of strong arms grabs her and pulls out from the crowd. Before she can see what's going on, she lands on a red leather couch in a dimly-lit room. She notices the "VIP" letters hanging on the door, but then there's a sound of fingers snapping and the door slams shut.

Klaus is standing above her, shaking his head with discontentment.

"Are you losing your freaking mind?"

Caroline sits up straight on the couch, propping herself with both hands in order not to faint. Her eyes are absently wandering around the room.

"I might be." The girl swallows with difficulty. She sits in silence for a while, trying to pull herself together. She's pale and, if Klaus isn't mistaken, she's freaking out right now. So he leans against the bloody-red wall and waits.

And waits.

She's still zoning in and out.

So he waits even more.

Finally, Caroline shakes it off and looks up at him.

"Do you feel it, too?"

"Feel what?" He tilts his head.

"Those... feelings!'' She throws her arms up in the air. ''Like, cravings. And goosebumps when somebody's touching you." Her eyes pierce him waiting for an answer.

"You were right." He nods. "You do surprise me."

Caroline gives him a faint smile, but then he sighs.

"With your stupidity."

(\o/)

"She's smoking hot." Tyler downs his drink. Matt just nods before doing the same thing.

"She's fucking creepy." Kol grimaces and takes their glasses to fill them with more intoxicating liquid.

"But she's hot."

"Okay, hot AND fucking creepy."

"Is she single?" The Lockwood Inquisition goes on, not discouraged by Caroline's creepiness at all.

"I don't know." Kol shrugs. "All she does is shopping, stealing my cookies, and talking on the phone with _Elena_, not that I know that girl."

"An easy target, then." Matt laughs, and Tyler gives him a high five.

(\o/)

"What do you mean a HUMAN THING?" Caroline's eyes go wide, and she could swear she's suffocating.

"When you leave your domain and travel to another dimension, you change. You're still a supernatural being, but your power is weaker here. Limited. And, at the same time, because you're among humans now, you're becoming similar to them. Call it the Nature's survival kit."

"I still don't get it."

"And I still don't get it how they could send here such a rookie." He snorts.

When Caroline doesn't say anything and sulks instead, Klaus takes a deep breath and explains.

"Do you know the saying: when in Rome, do as Romans do?"

"Nope. I've never been in any Roman." She mumbles. Klaus groans with frustration.

"You're on Earth, so your body is adjusting to the human world. You start to experience the whole range of emotions, starting with earthly happiness or sadness. You feel things even as mundane and physical as hunger or thirst."

"But the thing I felt while dancing with that guys wasn't _normal_ hunger." Caroline shivers at the though of their bodies against hers...

"Of course. It was lust."

"WHAT?!" She almost falls from the couch. "Like THE Lust?"

"Yup."

"Oh dear." The girl whines. "How do you know this?"

"Unlike you, I came _prepared_." He states matter-of-factly. Then it hits him. Eureka!

"Wait a minute. You've never left Heaven before."

"No."

"So you've never felt all those things?"

"NO." Something's telling Caroline that Klaus is not exactly _worried_ about her.

And she's right—his eyes light up with some very wicked thought, while his lips form a wolfish grin.

"So you've never had sex."

Caroline gasps, scandalized. "Of course not! Who do you take me for? I'm an angel!"

Klaus' mad cackling bounces off the walls. The more he laughs at her, the more indignant Caroline feels. She crosses her arms and waits, in angry silence, for him to stop.

"Are you done?" She spits.

The devil looks at her, thoroughly examining her whole form. A novice sent to Earth to stop Armageddon from happening. A girl that doesn't know that the first contact with human world is going to have shocking consequences for her. For the first few days, before her body fully adjusts, she's going to feel everything ten thousand times more acutely.

_Everything._ Like the torture her body goes through while being around a man.

Klaus comes closer to her and leans forward propping his hands on the backrest of the couch, making her lean backwards and─paralyzed with fear─sink into the red leather as a result. His face is inches away from hers. She can study every detail of his features: the sharp nose, the deep blue eyes, the luscious lips, and the stubble. Yes, the stubble that makes him look so─

Caroline shakes her head. What the heck is wrong with her? Still, she shivers because of the immediate proximity of their bodies.

His face gets even closer, and she instinctively shuts her eyes, waiting for a strike or a bite or whatever. But then she feels his stubble scrape against her cheek. The next moment his hot breath tickles her ear and neck as he whispers,

"You have no idea how fun it's going to be, watching your struggle against your earthly feelings, sweetheart."

Klaus has never been so amused. She's going to be his main source of entertainment till the end of the world (which, in case you forgot, is happening next month).

...

..

.

..

...

**A/N**: **Uno:** I know you're going to yell at me like, poor Care, she's a bit lost, isn't she? I'm telling you, just for now.

**Dos:** You know me. The rating will change. :)

**Tres:** And the winner is... *trumpets* **arabella!** She guessed the title of the novel – it's **Good Omens** by **Terry Pratchett** whom I will admire and worship forever.

**Cuatro:** I love your response to this story. You never cease to amaze me. Keep it up and see you in the next chapter!

Yours,

K. (liarfaker tumblr com)


	3. heaven in her eye

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**heaven in her eye**_

**...**

(\o/)

_Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye,_

_In every gesture dignity and love_

_[J. Milton's Paradise Lost]_

(\o/)

The angel finally passes out because of sugar-and-information overload. It's the first time she sleeps. She's dreaming about a giant sugar cube chasing her through the dark scary woods, and she jumps into a large chocolate pond. Suddenly she's naked, and every tree around the pond is laughing at her. She could swear one of them has a _stubble_.

When Caroline wakes up all sweaty and shivering, she's alone in her room, and the setting sun is dazzling her eyes. Those devils, surely they didn't close the curtains on purpose.

(\o/)

She finds out that there's nothing better in the morning than a warm shower, the feeling of water running down your naked body. (Yes, she figured out that you take a shower _without_ any clothes, but thank you for your concern.)

When she enters the kitchen, Klaus and Kol are in the middle of having breakfast, with two cups of hot and tempting coffee. Kol pours some into the third cup and slides it along the table towards the blonde.

"Sugar?" Klaus grins. She just angrily narrows her eyes at him in response. If looks could kill, Caroline would be shooting Klaus from the invisible Mk 48.

Kol clears his throat. "Caroline, Tyler asked for your number."

Klaus spits his coffee out.

"My _number_?" She ignores the devil who's choking right now.

"Phone number."

"Oh, right. Sure." She shrugs. "Why does he want it?"

Kol is staring at Caroline's cleavage, now very visible because of her bathrobe that unfolds slightly every time she moves. Meanwhile, Klaus starts to cough like a TB patient.

''Khhh! Khhh!''

"Probably he wants to touch— I mean, _keep_ in touch with you!" Kol freaks out and downs the rest of his coffee just in one gulp.

Klaus coughs with dignity for the last time to make his presence felt, but to no avail. Caroline's ignoring him, remembering the feeling of Tyler's hands on her back, and she thinks how would it be to keep in touch with him, whatever it means.

(\o/)

"So, he's taking me to the _movies_ tonight." Caroline announced.

"Did you two do... the indecent thing?" Elena's voice is metaphorically frowning at Caroline.

"Elena!"

"What?"

"You're invading my personal space! At least the mental one."

"Your what?"

"Personal space. Everybody has one. I've read it in one of Kol's books. I think I have a mental personal space as well." Caroline states, sounding very convinced and serious about it.

"I'm not invading anything!"

"Yes you are." Caroline sticks her tongue out at no one in particular. "You better tell me how to handle those feelings."

Elena's silent.

"'Lena?"

"I— I don't know, Caroline."

Caroline takes a deep breath. "How can you NOT know? You've been to Hell! The devil's nest! You must have controlled this somehow while being around Elijah!" She squeaks.

Silence falls between them. An awkward, _guilty_ silence. After a minute or two, Elena sighs, feeling defeated.

"The problem is, I couldn't."

(\o/)

Tyler stands in the doorway with a red rose in his hand. Kol sends him a surprised look saying, _well well well, look who's playing Casanova tonight._ Tyler just pouts mockingly.

Caroline leaves her room and smiles seeing Tyler waiting for her. He grins and extends his hand, holding the rose in front of her.

She keeps smiling goofily at him.

He keeps holding the flower, looking expectantly at totally oblivious Caroline.

Eventually, he sighs. "It's for you."

Then she blinks. "Oh, really? I mean, thanks! Thank you very much. It's very nice of you. Yes. Very. Thank you."

"Can you two just go?" Kol rolls his eyes.

"Have _fun_!" Klaus ironically adds sitting in an armchair, doodling something in his sketchbook. No matter how hard he tries, any sketch always ends up looking like a certain blonde.

(\o/)

She really tries to ignore the fact that Tyler's arm is resting casually around her in a half-embrace. And that sometimes he's staring at her instead of looking at the screen. There's even a moment when his face gets dangerously close to hers, so she has to fake a sudden asthma attack. But the worst thing comes later. When the movie ends—very interesting one, Caroline feels that she and the main hero (a total creep with very long fingers and weird make-up) have a lot in common, for example the way the modern world keeps surprising them—Caroline wishes she could just teleport herself back home.

But of course, Tyler wants them to go for a walk.

It's already dark outside when they walk through a park nearby Kol's apartment, and Caroline pretends to be very interested in Tyler's story about his adventures during a basketball camp last year. At least if he keeps talking he isn't trying to get intimate with her. And she has to keep those feeling of hers at bay.

Unfortunately, when they get to the apartment block, she immediately gets pinned against the hard concrete wall, and his whole body starts pressing into her own. Caroline squeezes her eyes shut, _no no no no please don't_. Her heart starts racing when he leans down to kiss her, the closer his lips get, the less control she has over herself.

But in the last second she pushes him away.

Even if Caroline has never been really kissed before, this one just doesn't feel... real. Now his touch repels her. How is it even possible for feelings to change so suddenly? Maybe she's finally adjusting?

She instantly slides down the wall and ducks under his arm before he can even figure out what's happening.

"What are you doing?" He frowns at her, confused. It isn't supposed to go this way. His car is waiting in the parking lot just outside the park, and they are supposed to run there, seized by the overwhelming wave of lust, and have wild mind-blowing sex. Maybe even more than once.

And now she's backing away.

"Come on, baby. Are you playing hard to get?" Tyler makes an effort to be funny, but Caroline doesn't get the joke. Instead she keeps walking backwards.

Tyler's steps get faster. Caroline knows that there's no point in running away from him. Not in these heels. Right now she doesn't feel excited, she doesn't feel that special _hunger_ she felt when they were dancing last night in the club. Right now she feels like teaching him a lesson.

She stops in her tracks, and when he's close enough ready to grab her by the shoulders, her fingers clench into a fist, and she delivers a severe blow to his face, almost knocking him out.

(Do you remember those stars and birds flying over the head of a cartoon character that got punched? Yeah, so you have the exact picture of Tyler in this very moment.)

"_I am_ hard to get. But thanks for the flower."

(\o/)

Kol's night shift at the club is boring and uneventful. People are just dancing and drinking as always, because LA never sleeps, but there's a special offer called Happy Night at the other bar, so people are flocking around it to get a mojito or cuba libre at a special price.

''Champagne.''

''Excuse me?'' Kol turns around to see a beautiful brunette with big sad eyes staring right at him.

''Champagne. A whole bottle. _Please_.'' She says, her face hard like stone.

''What are you celebrating?'' He opens the bottle and pours champagne into a flute glass.

''Being dumped after five fucking years.'' She takes a ring off her finger and throws it away, then grabs the glass and downs it at once.

After an hour and a half she's as drunk as a skunk, but she still doesn't reveal her name.

''And now you should tell me I'm too pretty to be dumped and that he's an idiot.'' She recites theatrically. Kol chuckles. A pretty little thing with a sharp tongue. _Me gusta._

''And then I'll get even more drunk and you will make out with me in the back of the club. You'll tell me I'm fantastic and gorgeous. You'll take my number but you'll never call.''

''Sounds great!'' He shoots before he thinks. And this is his mistake. She glares at him like he just said he liked to torture bunnies, and then she spills the whole (probably the third this night) bottle of champagne on him.

''Of course it sounds great to you.'' She hisses. _''Men_ equals _idiots_. Bastards!''

And she storms out of the club, ramming into random people on the way, and leaving Kol totally dumbfounded and speechless behind the bar.

(\o/)

Tyler slowly and arduously trudges home, when he sees Kol coming in his direction. He must be going home after the shift. But he looks weird. He's soaking wet, and seems incredibly gloomy.

''What the hell happened to you?'' Tyler shakes his head.

Kol looks at him and raises an eyebrow. His friend has a black eye and a wry expression on his face.

''And to _you_?''

Tyler grits his teeth angrily (although feeling relieved that she didn't knock them out too). ''One bad move.''

Kol nods. ''Yeah. Tell me about it.''

(\o/)

"How was your date?" Klaus greets her from the same armchair he was sitting in when she left the flat. What is he doing here in the middle of the night? He should be fast asleep by now. Does that monster sleep at all?

"Great." She throws him a challenging smile.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to control yourself." He chuckles and turns over another page of his sketchbook.

"Let me surprise you then." She grins at him, placing both hands on her hips. "We didn't even _kiss_."

Klaus looks at her from above his sketchbook, his eyes doubtful and confused. But he regains his composure quite quickly.

"Tightening your chastity belt, aren't you?" He retaliates.

Caroline leans against the wall and takes her high heels off, not aware of Klaus' hungry eyes roaming over her legs in the process. His lips instinctively part as he feasts his eyes on her gorgeous form. Oh how he would love to—NO YOU IDIOT STOP STARING AT HER LEGS. STOP.

Klaus shakes it off quickly.

"I will gladly borrow you my chastity belt so you can hang yourself with it." She mocks him and then proudly marches to her room keeping her head high.

Klaus looks down at the sketchbook he's keeping on his lap. Still the same girl is smiling at him from every single page.

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N Uno**: Girl power! Hah! ;) No worries, more klaroline interaction next chapter. I like slow build-up, forgive me, k?

**Dos:** I know Tyler's almost always a dick in my fics. I truly like his character, I just find his pre-werewolf asshole side more useful. *muahahahahah*

**Tres (tumblr frenzy):** JOSEPH MORGAN MY SOCKS ARE READY!

**Cuatro (*wink*)**: Review, talk to me, let me get to know you, I dare you (and love you) guys! :)


	4. at a little wind dost thou so fall

**Paradise for the Lost**

...

_**at a little wind dost thou so fall**_

...

(\o/)

_O human race, born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou so fall?_

—_Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy_

(\o/)

Klaus discovers television. He discovers infinity of channels, movies and TV series. When Caroline enters the living room, there's a tough fight going on the screen, disgusting walking corpses getting shot and exploding.

Bloodshed and gore. Klaus seems delighted.

"Ewww." Caroline grimaces. "What is it?"

"Zombie apocalypse." He says, not taking his eyes off the screen. He looks hypnotized. "Fucking genius. Even my people would never invent something that horrible. It's perfect."

Caroline gingerly sits down on the other side of the couch. She still finds being _close_ to him very uncomfortable.

"Why do you want it to end?"

"What?" He answers automatically, engrossed in what he's watching. A zombie's head falls to the ground and rolls on the pavement.

"The world. Why do you want it end?"

"Because humans are simply detestable." He states like it is the most obvious thing in the world.

Caroline's eyes widen. "How can you say that?" Klaus just rolls his eyes, bored and jaded, and turns to face her.

"Do you really want to have this conversation, little angel?"

"Yes."

"Okay. So let me tell you why I want this atrocious world to end." He pulls a cigarette out of his pocket and lights it up. Caroline winces at the deadly smell spreading around the room. Klaus takes a drag and then lets out a puff of smoke. Slowly, lazily it drifts up, winding and twisting like a snake.

"Look at this." He snorts. "It brings death yet people keep smoking it, taking death in, finding just illusory relief. They are on a permanent death drive, yearning for auto-destruction. Have you seen how atrocious and bloody the 20th century was? Humans are the only race that kills its own kind on _purpose_. So why should I deny them their death wish?" And, sprawled on the couch, he takes another drag.

"But I'm sure it's your team that provoked that wars." She points an accusatory finger at him.

"We invented wars in general. What humans are doing now is their own bidding. The student became the master. No need for the bloodthirsty devils to walk the Earth anymore, therefore we'll end it." A reason, a proof, and a solution. Klaus finishes his little lecture on modern history.

Caroline stares at him, speechless. She never thought about it. Human cruelty that outstrips that of Hell.

"But you can't just bask in your contempt for human race while there's also a lot of things about this world that makes it beautiful!"

"Really?'' He fakes a surprise. Oh how she amuses him. ''Like what?"

Good question, Caroline thought. She used to only observe Earth. She's intensively trying to come up with something, anything, but nothing comes to her mind. Finally she sighs.

"Um. They say... Rome is nice." She bites her lower lip. Klaus sees her confusion, and smirks.

"Listen, I've been to so many places you can't even _imagine_. I've seen everything in this world. Rome, Paris, Tokyo, been there, done that, love."

She sulks again. Klaus has that effect on her, she concludes. He's always trying to bring her down. What a grim, bitter man. But when she thinks about his reason, she has to admit he's partially right. If Apocalypse doesn't come, people will destroy the world themselves. Still, Caroline as an incurable optimist can't accept the fact that the world will end soon, before she can see it all. The longer she stays on Earth, the more she wants to be a part of it.

"I've never really been anywhere." Caroline mutters with a shrug, her head hanging low.

She doesn't see his curious blue eyes fixed on her sad face. He opens his mouth to say something, but then he shakes his head like he wanted to chase away an _absurd_ thought, and he looks back at the screen.

Sometimes he thinks he's losing his mind, too.

(\o/)

While Caroline decides to take a walk to, as she puts it, free herself from his gloominess, Klaus stays at the apartment sprawled on the couch, smoking and watching TV to keep his (very unruly and disturbing his devilish self) thoughts occupied. He's in the middle of Coppola's "Dracula" when he hears a knocking at the door. Groaning and irritated he gets up and opens it.

To his utter surprise, there's Tyler standing in the hallway, his face solemn (probably because of that shiner). Klaus begins to wonder what really happened yesterday.

"Is... Caroline home?" He asks hesitantly.

"No."

They stare at each other.

And stare.

And stare.

Klaus' expression stays unreadable. Tyler shuffles his feet. "Can I... wait for her inside?"

"No."

"It's important."

"I don't care."

"Come on, man!" The intruder whines. "I don't know what Kol or Caroline told you, but this time it's different. She's... something else. I really need her to give me a second chance."

Klaus feels his insides start to boil. Hot steam is about to billow out of his ears.

"I don't give a damn about your _petty_ problems." He hisses. "But if I see you here again, I'll break your neck."

Tyler knits his eyebrows. "Who the fuck are you, dude? Her jealous ex-boyfriend or something?"

Unfortunately, he doesn't get the opportunity to learn the answer, because Klaus grabs him by the collar of his shirt and drags him outside and along the corridor. Faster than he can react, Tyler finds himself dangling in the air, with Klaus' hands keeping him above the stairs.

"Okay! I get it! Let me down!" He growls. Although Klaus feels an irresistible urge to throw the idiot off the stairs, he eventually comes to his senses and lets Tyler free.

What's gotten into him anyway? For a moment he wanted to kill that guy, he just didn't know if it was 'ex-boyfriend' or 'jealous' that set him off like a bomb. Or maybe it was the image of Tyler touching her?

Klaus gets back to the apartment and lights up another cigarette.

His hands are still shaking.

(\o/)

Caroline sits down on a bench and observes some kids playing in the park. She has never been a kid. As far as she remembers, Caroline was always... Caroline.

She feels stuck. There's no way she can defeat Klaus in an open battle.

(She's been thinking about kidnapping Kol and hiding him in an underground shelter with a SWAT team inside. She just needs a shelter and a SWAT team. She'll tell them the truth—hello, I'm an angel and this is a boy that will start an Apocalypse if we don't stop his brother, a devil from the deepest pits of Hell, from killing him on his birthday—and they will believe her. Easy-peasy.)

No matter how hard she tries to resist him, he's still having that disturbing effect on her. Sharing a flat with your mortal enemy doesn't look like she expected. He should have killed her, or at least tried to attack her. Instead, he spends all days sitting in front of TV or sketching. When he's not ignoring her, he's mocking her. To Caroline it seems like she is so worthless in his eyes that he doesn't even bother to fight against her. He just waits patiently for Kol's birthday, and she just tags along, useless.

(So she's gobbling up the whole pack of cookies. Chocolate bits, her only consolation.)

She snaps out of her pensive mood when she sees someone sitting down next to her on the bench.

"You seem lost." A tall guy around her age sends her a keen but subtle smile. He has brown hair and deep blue (or green? She can't decide) eyes, and his face seems very... trustworthy.

"Just hungry. But thanks." Caroline smiles with cookie crumbs between her teeth, hoping that she'll scare him away by... well, by being herself. She's right in the middle of her first cathartic earthly crisis and she would prefer to experience it all alone. It is her big dear-diary-moment. She's _meditating_ for goodness sake!

"That's not exactly what I'm asking about." He chuckles, his laugh warm and friendly.

In order to avoid his stare, she takes an instant interest in her shoes. Nice pair of red heels. Really really ni—

"What are you doing on Earth?"

—ce. Pair. Of shoes. Caroline gulps. "Excuse me?"

"You're from Heaven."

Okay, Caroline thinks, just stay calm and remember to breathe.

"Is it some kind of a lame pick-up line?" She frowns with disbelief, but her voice is trembling.

"No, it's a very straightforward way of informing you that I know what you are."

The bites her lip. _Oh shit, oh shit, oh. shit. _

"Um. Wanna cookie?"

(\o/)

"His name's Stefan and he's an angel too. But he lives on Earth now, like humans!" Caroline gushes.

"That's weird. Just saying." Her friend finds it very suspicious. Normally angels can't just live among humans without having a mission. There's no such things as a stray angel. Unless he is a... Elena shivers at the thought.

"That's _awesome,_ Elena! Finally I have someone to guide me."

Caroline is elated. Stefan couldn't stay in the park much longer, because as a decent almost-human being he also works. But they have agreed to meet again tomorrow in the café across the park.

"You can't tell him!" Elena panics.

"Of course I won't! But he's right, I do feel lost here, and it doesn't exactly help our case."

Elena just sighs, giving up. Probably she's just being over-sensitive about it. Caroline deserves some help, and she knows she's not really helpful with her obsessing from behind the clouds.

"And what about you-know-who?"

"You-know-who-Kol or you-know-who-Klaus?" Caroline could swear Elena is rolling her eyes right now.

"Klaus."

"Well... Still an ass. I don't know what to do, really, and the clock is ticking. How did you manage to trick Elijah back then in Hell?" She winces when she realizes that it's a very touchy issue for her friend. Great Caroline, just great, you keep punching people where it hurts, even if just metaphorically.

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay." Elena stammers. "I think you should, I don't know, keep him distracted maybe?"

"Did you keep Elijah distracted?"

"Yes. Like, _very_ distracted."

(\o/)

Kol is in the middle of throwing his temper tantrum when Caroline gets back home.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" He is tearing his hair out. "You could have killed him!"

"Oh yes, an _irreparable_ loss." Klaus snorts.

"He's my friend!"

"What's going on?" Caroline stays close to the door in case things go violent, shirts get torn (that one wouldn't be _that_ horrible, you know, but well) and blood is spilled.

"Nothing really, Klaus just tried to kill Tyler." Kol snaps. Caroline's jaw drops. Klaus just sulks in his armchair. The only thing that is missing right now is Klaus kicking and screaming, _this isn't fair mom, he started it!_

"You idiot." He growls at his brother. "That caveman, your friend as you call him, is so dumb he probably thinks picking up a girl the traditional way means using chloroform!"

Caroline coughs discreetly.

"It's my night off and Tyler and Matt are coming over," Kol brandishes his finger at Klaus, "so either you stay in your room or you get the fuck out till they leave."

Klaus gets up and in just one jump he gets to Kol, and he stands just inch away like a rabid dog ready to bite.

"Mind your words, kid."

"Really? And who are you? My father?"

This makes Klaus' eye twitch. His face gets so tense you could break stones against it. Caroline holds her breath for a second. But then she lets it out relieved because Klaus grabs his jacket and brushes past her storming out of the apartment. She gives Kol an uneasy smile.

"I think I'll join him."

"But Tyler wants to see you." He argues, confused.

"Exactly. So, yeah, bye!"

She gets out so fast Kol swears she crosses the sound barrier.

(\o/)

"Why are you following me?" Klaus grumbles when he notices Caroline behind her back. But a part of him craves her presence. That *cough* lower *cough* part.

"Well, Kol practically kicked us out for the whole night." The girl reasons.

"Nobody kicked me out. I decided to go because I'm not breathing the same air as that asshole. After my dead body."

Caroline rolls her eyes at him. "Sure you did."

Klaus spins around forcing Caroline to stop in her tracks, and she bumps into his hard chest as a result. An electric jolt runs through her body and she jumps away from him, astounded.

"And you sure can control yourself." Klaus snorts.

"I can! I even punched Tyler for putting the moves on me!" She sounds oh-so-proud he doesn't want anything but wipe that smile off her face.

"Alert the media." He mocks her earning an angry glare from the blonde.

''And if you were in his place, I wouldn't hesitate to punch you too.''

He tilts his head to the side, studying her face. His eyes darken ominously, and then moving with supernatural speed he pushes her into a dark alley and traps between his unnaturally heated body and a red brick wall.

"Who are you to defy me?" He bellows.

Her breathing quickens when she realizes how small is the gap separating them.

"Are you controlling yourself now?" He smirks, his nose touching hers.

"Yes." She shivers but keeps staring right into his eyes.

His head dives into her golden curls, his lips almost touching the sensitive skin of her neck.

"And now?" He breathes, and grins viciously feeling goosebumps under his hand clasped on her shoulder. Caroline's heart is racing as she feels her body moulding into his own. His teeth graze against her collarbones.

The girl inhales sharply. Why does he always go all _macho_ on her?

"So?" Klaus prompts. She has no idea how much the whole intimidation costs him. If she doesn't surrender soon, he won't be able to hold back.

"Why don't you punch me like you punched him, love? You have everything under control after all."

"Please." She whimpers, her courage oozing away. "Let me go."

Klaus smirks satisfied, although it's not only satisfaction that he feels. There's a significant amount of relief in that, hopefully she is too terrified to notice.

With an expression of a sedated wolf after the hunt, Klaus releases Caroline from his grip and starts to _swagger_ away. What did that TV guy with extremely loose clothes say? Right. He has 99 problems but a stunning blonde with fantastic legs ain't one. Or something like that.

He tries not to look back, GO ON, DON'T LOOK BA- OH GREAT. There she stands, miserable and trembling. Sad blue eyes are still staring at him, and it would be more dramatic only if it was raining right now.

As if on cue, the sky clouds over. A raindrop falls on her head. She's still staring.

Klaus groans. That blonde angel is so damn frustrating.

"Fine." He mutters. "Any idea where we can go, princess?"

Her eyes light up like the Hale manor on fire.

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: **Uno:** So, where are they going? Any wild guess? ;)

**Dos:** to **ead9 **(and other interested in the movie C&T were watching in ch3): it's Tim Burton's _Dark Shadows_

**Tres:** If it wasn't for YOU guys I would never write anything, so THANK YOU. :3 You give me the courage to set free and write down whatever is stuck in my crazy head.

**Cuatro**: You know where you can find me.


	5. fallen cherub, to be weak is miserable

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**fallen cherub, to be weak is miserable**_

**…**

(\o/)

_Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable, _

_Doing or suffering: but of this be sure_

_To do aught good never will be our task, _

_But ever to do ill our sole delight, _

_[John Milton, Paradise Lost]_

(\o/)

Let's go to the movies, she says. And he goes, like cattle to slaughter.

Two hours later Klaus storms out of the cinema, a dark cloud hanging over his head. Caroline totters after him trying to run in the high heels. She looks like she's walking a tightrope twenty meters above the ground and juggling at the same time. Klaus would think it's comical, but right now he's focused on NOT killing anyone as he angrily walks down the street.

"Come on, it wasn't that bad!" She protests. Klaus doesn't even bother to turn around as he yells,

"Dancing zebra! A FUCKING ZEBRA! In a colourful afro! Singing that, that, that," he really is shocked, "SONG!"

Yeah, this view will never stop haunting him. He's scarred for life.

"But you laughed at Mort!"

"Because he's exactly like you!" He spits.

Caroline smiles, surprised. "Aww, thank you!" She coos.

"It wasn't a compliment." Klaus mutters.

"I saw you stealing popcorn from that little girl next you you!" She sticks her tongue at him as if to prove her point.

This was the last time he let Caroline buy two tickets for something—what did she say?—_optimistic_ and _funny_!

(\o/)

He can't stop singing _Afro Circus Polka Dot_ in his head.

(\o/)

It's raining so they end up in a club. Of course. This city is always up for a good party. Klaus just wants to drown Afro Circus in an unhealthy dose of alcohol while Caroline dreams of sitting down after walking for so long in those heels. Her legs are killing her. They are also killing Klaus, but in a completely different way.

He leaves her alone at the table for a moment to grab a drink (and a coffee. No comments). Caroline thinks about him laughing at the cinema. He DID laugh, no matter how fiercely he denies that, posing as the big bad. She's so preoccupied with her thoughts of Klaus that at first she doesn't notice a creepy but cute guy standing next to her couch. Then he sits down and Caroline notices a cigarette in his hand. A bit different than Klaus' one, maybe rolled-up, but still, he's smoking it.

"Hi beautiful. I'm Jeremy." He drawls. "Want a drag?" He reminds her of a sluggish and languid snail chilling out somewhere in the grass.

Caroline presses her lips in a tight line thinking carefully. She is indeed curious why Klaus smokes so much. Maybe it helps him adjust to the world? She slowly takes the joint. They keep smoking until Klaus is back, and he doesn't look pleased when he sees that the guy is about to sneak his arm around Caroline. The sound of glass hitting the wood wakes the stranger up.

"Sorry, bro." He gives Klaus a lazy smile. "I didn't want to bother your girl, thought she was alone."

Caroline just sinks into the couch and snickers. Somehow the vision of her and Klaus together seems so amusing to her that she can't stop laughing. _Your girl!_ Hah!

"Get the hell out." The devil says, his lip curls up with visible disgust. The stranger raises both hands giving up and trudges away, throwing Caroline the last longing look.

"Why do you always have to prove you're the alpha male?" She mocks him. Normally she would scoff at him, but suddenly everything is _funny_ for her. Her inability to protect Kol is ludicrous (yeah she's so lame!), uptight and proper Elena is just sweet, and Klaus and his alpha male complex is hilarious. And beguiling. Did she mention he has the most tempting lips she's ever seen?

Then she realizes she's talking to herself.

Aloud.

Whatever. WOOHOO!

"If you have horns, can I say you're horny? Is it a correct adjective?"

Klaus just cocks his eyebrow at her.

"Are you horny, Klaus?" She giggles.

"Caroline, you're stoned."

"I AM JOY!"

(\o/)

No matter how many times Kol yells at Caroline to open the bathroom door, the only thing that answers him is silence. He groans and goes back to the kitchen.

"Still not talking?" Klaus grimaces.

"Nope. I'm not sure if I want to know what happened last night."

Caroline relaxes in the warm water with bath salts that smell like jasmine. She doesn't remember what happened after they left the club, but the memory of Klaus' face when she was jabbering away about his lips and him being horny... She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head. Talk about awkward.

Then she hears her ringtone and groans because _of course_ Elena couldn't choose a better moment to call. She risks her life to lean over the edge of the huge bathtub and snatches her phone from a shelf. But to Caroline's surprise this time it's a different, unknown number.

"Um. Yes?"

"Morning, love."

Caroline's cheeks go red. Damn you, you—oh wait. He's already damned.

"H—How did you get my number?" She gulps, clutching at her throat.

"You gave me it while singing something about meeting me and being crazy and _calling you maybe_."

OH SHIT.

"It was before you vomited on the sidewalk and passed out, of course."

WHAT.

"And before you jumped from a bench trying to fly."

SERIOUSLY?

"And before we had rough animalistic sex in the back of the club."

Caroline grabs onto the edge of the tub in case she faints again.

"What. Did. You. Say?"

"Just kidding with the last one."

It takes her 30 seconds to hop out of the tub, wrap a towel around her body and storm out of the bathroom. Leaving wet traces all over the apartment, she stomps into the kitchen fuming with anger.

"NOT! FUNNY!"

"Well, quite the opposite, sweetheart. Look, Kol is laughing his ass off." Klaus grins at her. The grin goes even wider (in fact it reaches his pants) when he notices what she's wearing. Or what she isn't.

"Nice towel. Very... _green_." He will never admit to anyone that the sight of her in that short towel has made his mouth water.

"Oh shut up!" She tries to cover herself with her hands as if the towel wasn't enough. (Which is, at least for Klaus.)

"And just so you know, it's _pistachio_."

(\o/)

Without telling her flatmates where she's going, Caroline slams the door shut after her. Rough animalistic sex! Phew! Wishful thinking, Mr. Devil!

(Okay, _Mr. Devil_ sounds dumb. Even a teddy bear would have a better name.)

Stefan waits for her at the café. Her face brightens up as she waves at him. There's something brotherly about Stefan, something that allows her to trust him.

She learns that he's, in fact, a fallen angel. He's been to Heaven, he's been to Hell, but finally found his place on Earth. He found _peace,_ he tells her, and his eyes reflect the relief he feels.

"How did your fall?" Caroline asks him, and it's not about whether he did it head-first or maybe with a few somersaults. Every angel can fall, the question is—why. Some fall because of pride, others—because of envy. Contrary to a popular belief, no angel is perfect and all it takes is to tickle the right place in the right moment.

"Love. I went to Hell to be with her. A she-devil."

"Oh." Caroline gulps. She's never been in love. You know how it is in Heaven, all talk and no action. "What is love like?"

"Like a contraction of a heart muscle." He blurts taking Caroline aback.

"I was hoping for a more... metaphorical answer." She takes a sip of her super-sweet coffee with triple milk. Yes, triple. It's made Caroline-style, milk with a bit of coffee and a lot of sugar.

"Like," he adopts a brooding expression, "it's a hurricane that blows you away?" He recites dramatically in a low voice, probably mocking the whole generation of actors.

"More or less." She cocks an eyebrow.

"Well, you can think about love this way. But in the end all that you're left with is your broken heart. So the first definition is more accurate."

(\o/)

Kol is swaggering to work, humming his, as he calls it, biographical song.

"_Every day I'm a star in the city, walk the streets like a wanted man, all the time got my shine lookin pretty, motherfuckers all know who I_—HEY! You!"

He waves at a familiar woman walking on the other side.

"Hey!" He yells so she could notice him across the street. For a fleeting moment, barely a second, her eyes fall on him.

"I'm sorry!" He shouts. "I didn't even think about making out with you that night! I swear!"

People passing by look at him like he's just escaped a psychiatric ward. She sends him a killer's glare and quickens the pace. Kol wants to run across the street to catch her, but as if on cue the traffic finally moves on and he's attacked by a chorus of horns beeping.

"Did I do something wrong?" He huffs, confused.

(\o/)

"What if you, for example, knew somebody who was going to hurt another.. _somebody_." Caroline tries to by as cryptic as she can. Well... Credit to her for trying, though.

"I think I would stop him." Stefan raises his eyebrows that say, _Duh._

"Okay, but what if you were too weak to fight him?" The blonde labours the point.

"I would try to talk him out of it."

A frustrated frown appears on Caroline's forehead. Damn, it's not that easy to talk Klaus out of killing his own brother, or destroying the world for that matter.

"There are people out there that are able to talk anyone out of anything."

"I'm afraid I'm not one of them." She thoughtfully slurps her coffee.

"Are you okay? It's the third cup today, Caroline."

"So what?" She pouts like a small girl. "Everybody has their weakness."

Then it dawns on her.

Everybody has their weakness! If an angel can fall, then it's sure as hell (no pun intended) that a devil must have a weakness too. All she needs to do is get close enough to learn his secret.

"Talking about weaknesses, what's yours?"

"It used to be love. And now it's..." He stops. His eyes darken with some emotion she doesn't recognize. "Never mind."

Caroline looks through the window immersed in her own thoughts. Klaus thinks she's harmless. He doesn't consider her a threat. It gives her a hidden advantage. But still, she would give up her best pair of heels to know what Klaus the Enigma really thinks about her.

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: **Uno**: Stefan's story is more complicated than that, but I'm sure you already know. ;)

**Dos:** Well done guys, you are right about TW reference in ch4! In this chapter Kol is singing "In the city" by Kevin Rudolf (I think it's perfect for that Original swagger.) And yes, I can't get the singing zebra out of my head too. It's driving me craaaaaaazy.

**Tres:** On my tumblr you can find the sneak-peaks from upcoming chapters and other stuff.

**Cuatro:** Have you seen TVD blu-ray exclusive with JM talking about THE scene from 3x11?_ O Captain! My Captain! _Our ship is like the Armada now!


	6. veins and pulses tremble

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**veins and pulses tremble**_

**...**

(\o/)

_For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble._

_[Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy]_

(\o/)

Eerie and disturbing silence greets Caroline when she gets back home. The lights are off, and there's no sight of Klaus anywhere. Kol is out of question being at work and all. But something is wrong here, the flat has been left in a hurry. The door to Klaus' room is left ajar, and there's a half-full (yes, because Caroline is an optimist) glass of whiskey on the small table in the living room.

Although she knows she's home alone (like Kevin, just without any burglars), she tiptoes to his room. Klaus doesn't have many things, she concludes. Just some clothes, and some books, Machiavelli being one of the authors. Okay, so Klaus is not exactly a Twilight guy, she gets it.

Then she notices a sketchbook, or in fact THE sketchbook. He never lets anyone see it. And now it's lying on his bed, unguarded and so tempting. She'll just have a look, one quick glance into the monster's soul.

She opens it—and gasps.

(\o/)

His victim screams so loud Stefan has to cover his ears. Poor girl, just seventeen and quite pretty. Maybe she's incredibly talented and smart. Or maybe she's just a dumb blonde. Whatever, she's delicious. He sinks his fangs exactly where the artery is and dreamily closes his eyes when delicious red liquid rushes down his throat. That's it, he thinks, everyone has their weakness.

He senses the presence of something supernatural. A devil, he concludes, lurking in the shadows. Not a regular sight around here.

"I know you're here." Stefan says still holding the girl in his arms. She's losing consciousness which means his dinner will be over soon (he doesn't know why but it tastes best when the food is conscious), and somebody has the nerve to disturb him!

"I go hunting for the first time since the last visit on Earth and look who I find. Long time no see, mate." A familiar voice comes from the darkness that surrounds both of them. Stefan's jaw is hanging low when the stranger reveals himself, and suddenly he's not a stranger anymore.

"Klaus."

"How's my favourite Ripper?" A vicious grin appears on Klaus' face.

"What are you doing here?" Stefan is so shocked he drops the girl to the floor. She's just passed out. There's no use in carrying—or, if you prefer professional terminology—wearing her, like a bracelet.

"I could ask you the same. Los Angeles? That's so _Rebekah_ of you."

"I've always liked this city."

"So has my sister."

Stefan's face hardens. It's not exactly his hobby to brood over Rebekah. Or at least this is what he keeps telling himself until he believes it.

"Your turn to explain."

"Last time we met I told you what my next visit to Earth would be like." Klaus clarifies in a happy voice. Too happy, if you ask Stefan. It must mean the devil got what he wanted.

"So... When?"

"In three week's time."

"I should congratulate you then."

"You better choose your side wisely instead. You know what will happen."

Stefan presses his lips into a tight line. Yes, he knows what is to come, and it already makes him feel devoid of any hope. Earth is where he lives in peace, more or less. He likes his peace. (Of course sometimes things get bloody, but it's true what they say in TV, those modern washing powders can work miracles.)

"Easier said than done. You know, Heaven for climate, Hell for company." The fallen angel musters a sour smile.

"I'm sure you choose well." Klaus pats him on the back. "Now I think we should find a better place to _eat._ Even miles away I can smell your lovely blonde's STD. Not healthy."

(\o/)

"A pile of sketches, Elena! A whole book!"

"I would call it romantic if it wasn't, you know, Klaus." Elena chirps.

"I call it creepy. Do you hear me? CREEPY. Like, _I-will-sketch-you-then-kill-you-then-sketch-you-again_ creepy."

"So what, Caroline? Klaus is obsessed with you. One point to Team Heaven!"

Caroline groans. It just can't be Elena, seeing the bright side of something that twisted. _Et tu, Brute, contra me?_

Oh, and talking about twisted... "I need to know how you tricked Elijah."

Elena inhales sharply (which sounds funny on the phone by the way). One point to Team Caroline for forcing Team Elena to surrender.

"I told you—"

"No, I need details. _Keeping somebody distracted_ is a very broad term. You could have been wearing an afro and singing a silly song, or you could have been jumping his bones." Elena gasps scandalized at Caroline's straightforwardness. Who taught her such obscene words!

"Well?" The blonde cocks her eyebrow.

"I might have... done some bad things with him." Elena's embarrassment is so evident Caroline can hear her blush.

"Elena."

"Very bad."

"ELENA."

"I seduced him, okay! I slept with him! Are you happy now?" Her friend whines.

That's a shocker, Caroline thinks. Elena's been always a good girl. Like, impeccable behaviour and strict morals. Sooner Hell freezes over than somebody corrupts Elena. Well, now it seems that Klaus should buy himself a warm coat and a pair of skates.

"Wow. I mean, that's quite a sacrifice. You know."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures." Elena declares with dignity.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Silence falls between them as they both ponder over their mission.

''Caroline?''

''Yes?''

''Did you try that afro thing with Klaus?''

''ELENA!''

(\o/)

Blood drips down Klaus' chin, so he wipes it with his thumb and then licks it. He smiles tilting his head back.

"I missed that."

Stefan just nods.

"You've gone soft, tough." The devil sighs. "No killing? It used to be your favourite part. I'm disappointed."

"I'm not you. I have a conscience."

"Conscience is overrated, my friend."

They sit in silence, looking at the night sky. It's star-strewn, so many of them sparkling on the black velvet. Impressive audience for two devilish creatures.

"How's Rebekah?" Stefan mumbles. He knows he shouldn't be asking about her for his own good, but you know what curiosity does to people (and cats).

Klaus laughs at his companion. "Lovesick Stefan. Not my favourite face of the Ripper. It was your greatest weakness."

Seeing that Stefan is getting into his sullen mood he gets up from the bench. Brooding Stefan is no-fun-Stefan. And when he starts... it drags on and on. Maybe he'll stop before the sun comes up. Usually people don't take lightly sights like this one.

"I think I'll grab some dessert on my way home." If Klaus was a human girl, he would be the one with obsessive-compulsive disorder that sneaks into the kitchen at night and clears the fridge of all its contents. Once he tastes blood he's never sated.

"See you later, mate." Stefan doesn't respond. He just rests on the bench, absently staring into space.

(\o/)

Klaus doesn't remember the last time he drank so much blood, but it feels superbly satisfying.

It flows in his veins, wild and all-consuming.

It makes him breathe deeper.

It makes his body explode with energy.

Oddly enough, all his thoughts lead back to the blonde angel he lives with. Right now he could maul her, ravish her, then suck her dry. Any restraint he had is now gone. His mind goes blank.

(\o/)

The scrape of the key in the lock wakes Caroline from her stupor. Like the floor was burning, she dashes to the living room, jumps onto the couch and turns TV on exactly when Klaus gets in.

"Oh, hi!" She greets him nervously with trembling voice. Then she notices she's apparently watching Animal Planet.

_Suricata suricatta, a small mammal belonging to the mongoose family, lives in a group called a "mob" or "clan". _

"You, um, scared me. It's late." She throws him a smile every professional idiot would be jealous of. There's something about Klaus that scares her, apart from him being a sketchy-stalker of course.

He looks unnaturally... perked up. His eyes are fixed on her as he gets closer to the couch.

"No rest for the wicked." He smirks, still staring at her with hungry eyes.

_Being 8 inches long, meerkats are snack size for many animals, _TV goes on_._

Klaus leans on the armrest so Caroline scoots to the other side of the couch. She does feel like a prey. He looks different, not calm and poised as always. Caroline's eyes dart to his chest.

"Is that... blood on your shirt?" She gulps, pressing her back against the backrest.

"Maybe." That wolfish grin of his makes her eyes widen with fear. She digs her feet into the leather and pushes off, falling over the armrest as a result. She lands with a loud THUD on the carpet. Klaus keeps observing her.

"You know what, I think I should be going," she rambles nervously, "to bed. I'm sleepy. Oh my goodness, you have no idea how sleepy I am." She fakes a yawn. "Tha-a-a-a-at sleepy."

He remains silent, standing by the couch and watching her like a snake. Predatory style, with narrowed eyes. This is enough for Caroline to feel reduced to a small mouse.

_When a predator is spotted, the meerkat performing as sentry gives a warning bark, and other members of the gang will run and hide in one of the many bolt holes they have spread across their territory._

She staggers towards her room, but suddenly she hears a throaty growl, then the world spins around her and her body gets knocked to the side, eventually stopping on the wall.

He's right in font of her, inches away, breathing heavily. Hid body presses onto hers as their foreheads meet. It's the most intimate moment of Caroline's short earthly life so far, being that close to him, feeling the tension between them as his head rests against hers.

_Alpha male and female do most of the breeding._

Klaus smells of blood and city, and Caroline can see now the trace of red in the corner of his mouth. His lips are hovering over hers, only a breath away. She's so agitated she doesn't notice that he holds her wrists tight. Like, ouch.

She's caged. Trapped. Cornered. Stuck against his extremely strong body, with his breath tickling her face and that demented stare that makes her stomach churn.

_There is no precopulatory display. The male ritually grooms the female until she submits to him. _

Caroline sees his lips part as he leans forward. She recognizes this move, it's the same thing Tyler did on their date. So Klaus will either bite her nose off or kiss her. (Hopefully he won't do both.)

Before she can imagine how she would look without her nose, Klaus' lips press roughly onto hers. The roughness of his move is balanced by the softness of his lips, and his grip on her wrists weakens a little. Caroline instinctively opens her mouth, letting him in. He deepens the kiss, his hips pinning her to the wall. She can feel the need that is driving him now, contagious like a plague. Her whole body aches for something she doesn't know yet, and a bubble of want forms inside her—that extreme hunger that consumes her.

His lips move rhythmically while she takes in their coppery taste.

It's her first real kiss, and it's perfect.

Then Klaus releases her wrists and his hands get busy travelling up and down her sides, sneaking under her tank-top, stopping on her full breasts as he starts kneading them. Nobody ever touched her like that—possessively and lustfully. She lets a quiet moan and grabs him by the nape of his neck, pulling him even closer, moulding into his form, playing with his hair, getting lost in his touch. For the first time in her life she feels such overwhelming desire that sets her skin alight.

His lips move along the delicate line of her jaw, and then to her throat. When he sucks and nibbles at her neck, peppering it with hot wet kisses, Caroline's knees literally go weak, as if they were melting. He wraps an arm around her waist to keep her from falling. She whimpers under him tilting her head to the side, exposing her neck, letting his nose dive into her hair.

His hands graze over the bare skin of her stomach making her eyes and heart flutter, but then she hears him growl again—

''Klaus?'' She trembles.

—and a pair of yellow eyes flashes right in front of her face.

Two razor-sharp fangs tear into her neck, breaking her skin, causing her so much pain her eyes water instantly.

_Meerkats make very poor pets. They can be aggressive and may bite. _

Caroline lets out a shrill, blood-curdling scream.

...

..

.

..

...

**A/N**: Dun dun dun dun! Ripper Stefan, meerkats, and making out that ends badly. Satisfied? Disappointed? Loving me even if just a little? Hating me a lot? I'm waiting. Hit me with your best shot, my dear Readers. I'm a tough cookie. :)

[BTW, for the zebra song have a look at Madagascar 3. ;)]

.

**A/N 2**: Because I have to study for a resit (yeah. joy.) the updates may slow down a bit – maybe not every two days but I'll still try to update often. So, stay tuned guys and talk to me. :3


	7. for mercy has a human heart

**A/N: **It's basically a filler chapter, but it also lays an important background for the next one. I had a lot of trouble with this, so if it sucks, then it sucks. Can't help that. Ye be warned.

* * *

**Paradise for the Lost**

...

_**for mercy has a human heart**_

...

(\o/)

_For Mercy has a human heart_

_Pity, a human face:_

_And Love, the human form divine,_

_And Peace, the human dress._

—_William Blake, Songs of Innocence and of Experience_

(\o/)

Caroline is floating in the air with blinding light surrounding her. The light makes her feel warm, it makes her feel... happy. Yes, she's happy. She could be lying like this forever, bathing in the bliss shining right at her, through her, filling her with joy.

Then somebody gently shakes her by the arm, waking her up.

"Caroline? Do you hear me?" A soft female voice rings in Caroline's ears. She blinks, trying to adjust her eyes to the sharp and cold light of a lamp. The walls around her are snow-white, and the woman above her is wearing white too, blending with the surroundings.

"Where am I?" Caroline croaks, her throat dry and sore.

"You're in the hospital. My name's Meredith Fell, I'm your doctor."

"Hospital?" The blonde frowns trying to remember what happened after she went home last night.

"You're yet another victim of an animal attack. It's been happening a lot recently."

"Animal attack?" Caroline raises her eyebrows. Then she remembers. The sketchbook, she freaks out, then Klaus comes home, and they... OH. Yeah. His lips. His hands. His body. His touch. His FANGS. Caroline shivers.

"How did I end up here?"

"You lost a lot of blood. It's a miracle your flatmate found you on time."

"My flatmate?"

"Um, a tall guy with stubble, a posh accent, a weird name—"

"Klaus." Found me on time? Oh you liar. Caroline promises herself to kick his ass as soon as he shows up.

"Yes, exactly. He seemed terrified."

Caroline crosses her arms and pouts. "I'm sure he _did."_

"I _was_." Klaus stands in the doorway with a solemn look on his face. Dr. Fell mutters something about taking care of other patients and talking to Caroline later, then leaves them alone. Caroline is fuming, watching him slowly approach her bed.

"Are you going to kill me?" She snaps at him with her arms still crossed. She's looking daggers at him, and Klaus needs a second or two to digest Caroline's anger. He was rather expecting her to scream at the sight of him and flee in panic. But there she is, lying in a hospital bed, barely moving but so furious that she wants to beat him black and blue.

(The hospital robe she's wearing would probably fall off her body leaving her completely na—SHUT UP, Klaus shakes the nagging thought off.)

"Kill you?" He grimaces. The thought makes him cringe. "You think that low of me."

"YES."

Caroline can't believe her eyes—he looks hurt. She would let an evil laugh right now but her throat is too damaged. Klaus does not get hurt. It even _sounds_ ridiculous. He's a demon, a devil, a creature bent on destroying the world for some unknown reasons. He sedates her with a kiss only to attack her a minute later. He does not get hurt by _words._

"My apologies. You're what's known as _collateral damage_."

Oh great, now he says he's sorry he kissed her! It was her first kiss, mind-blowing and knee-melting, and now he stands in front of her, his head hanging low, and he APOLOGIZES because in fact he didn't want to kiss her! Heaven help her or she will rip his head off and hang it on the wall.

(Yes, as you probably notice, Caroline is quick to jump to conclusions. Forgive her, she's still in a state of shock.)

Klaus can't look her in the eyes. Her blood still runs in his system—forget about human blood, it's just ordinary dinner. Her blood, an angel's blood, is delightful. _Divine._ Feeding on her has been the most amazing experience in his life so far (and mind you, he's experienced _a lot_).

She's full of light. For a creature born out of darkness it's the most alluring thing in the world. We all strive for balance. Darkness needs a bit of light, and vice versa. Right now he thinks about her delicate skin, her wonderful body, and the kiss that, if he hadn't done what he did later, would have led to things that turn him on instantly at the very thought. He would have taken her right there against the wall, he would have had her moaning under him, screaming his name.

Now she's lying here because of him. Klaus feels a pang of something painful which he would never call by its name.

His hand instinctively reaches to touch her wrist, but she yanks her hand away.

"DON'T touch me." He winces hearing her sharp yet fearful tone. Caroline shifts in the bed and turns on her side, with her back to Klaus, then covers herself with blanket like a moody child. So he sits down on her bed and waits, observing her. His eyes are fixed on her fragile form whereas she keeps ignoring him, obstinately staring at the wall.

Minutes pass, and neither of them wants to break the silence first.

Eventually Caroline gives up. "I'm not talking to you until you explain to me what happened." She mutters.

"What was it?"

Klaus takes a deep breath. "A true face of a devil."

(Well, not exactly a face to put on a GQ cover if you ask her.)

"Not pretty.'' The blonde hisses. ''I won't feed you with '_you look best au naturel_' crap."

He cocks an eyebrow at her. Did she just tell him that he's, kind of, ugly? A wicked thought runs through Klaus' mind, and he grins like a shark that spotted a nice tasty human in the sea. He slightly leans forward like he was about to tell her a secret, and she stares like hypnotized at his lips. When her face is close enough he whispers,

"Not everyone can be as beautiful as you, love." Tit for tat.

That cocky smirk of his will render Caroline speechless for at least an hour.

(\o/)

Kol's head pops up from behind the door frame. She waves at him, happy to have someone to keep her company. Klaus left her for a few hours (okay, she asked him a favour because he SO wanted to make up for biting her) and she must admit that resting here is getting boring. How long can you watch The Bold And Beautiful before you become a psychopath? Ridge is going to marry Brooke for the thousandth time, and Caroline won't bear such a heartbreak again.

"Hi." Kol comes in, carrying four bags. "I brought you cookies."

Caroline's smile widens instantly.

"Really? You're my hero!" She beams at him.

"They probably told you to eat healthily, but I'm sure that cookies will revive you sooner than vegetables." He snorts. Then he takes a closer look at Caroline. Pale, with dark circles under her eyes, she looks like many customers that hang out at his bar till the early hours.

Then a familiar voice (to both of them, yet for different reasons) resounds in the room.

"Caroline, do you have a minute? I want to—OH NO." It's Dr. Fell, suddenly losing her spirit at the sight of Caroline's visitor.

"YOU." Kol mutters under his nose, his lip curling upwards.

You probably assume that a doctor, a responsible person would rather stand there with dignity, have a grown-up conversation (whatever it means), and then go their own way like a serious adult should do. Of course there must be some exceptions, and Meredith Fell is one of them.

She turns on her heel and starts running away, trying not to rouse any suspicions at the same time. Without a word Kol rushes after her, also slowing his pace only to avoid getting caught by the hospital security. And so Meredith runs down the hall with a guilty expression on her face being followed by frowning Kol and his silent rage. She's trotting while Kol's marching, her small steps against his long strides. Down the hospital corridor, turn left, turn right, then they brush past a group of nurses throwing them off balance (sorry!), she almost slips on a wet floor while Kol almost runs into a patient on a wheelchair.

Fellow doctors raise their eyebrows at the chase they are witnessing, some of them even making bets who's going to win. Meredith has never felt so embarrassed.

"What do you want?" She snaps when they get to her office. "What a nerve!"

"I should be saying that!" Kol huffs. "You yell at me for no reason, pour champagne onto my head, ignore me on the street, and now you run away!"

"How can you _stalk_ other women when you have such a nice girlfriend!" Meredith is shaking with anger. Her stalker looks at her like she's at least mad.

"What? Now you also ascribe a non-existent girlfriend to me? You can't be right in the head!"

"Don't lie to me, Caroline doesn't have many visitors!"

"She's my flatmate for goodness sake, woman!" Kol's patience has just waved him goodbye and sailed away on a sinking ship. "But now I see why your ex left you! You are worse than a Protestant witch hunter!"

His words must have stung her because for the first time she doesn't bark back at him. Her chin quivers a little, her eye twitches. Before he can take his words back a pair of big brown eyes gets hazy with tears. Oh no, Kol thinks, it's coming.

"Hey, I'm sorry, okay? Please don't—"

Too late.

(\o/)

When Klaus said he wanted to acquit himself he didn't expect her to order him to go to a DVD shop. Come on, she could have asked him to cook for her (which he can't do but women are _that_ cunning and thirsty for revenge), to give her tired body a nice massage (he would love to, if you know what he means), or at least to carry her in his arms (mostly because she's still weak, but also because he likes having her body against his). But no, Caroline wouldn't be herself if she didn't ask him to join her for a movie marathon. He knows her taste in movies is a far cry from being perfect (i.e. being his own taste), and they have nothing in common when it comes to the cinema in general.

He spends more than thirty minutes searching for the right films. Finally he finds them... not surprisingly in a 'chick flicks' section. When he gets a better look at the covers he understands what torture she's prepared for him.

''You must be kidding me.''

He swears a solemn oath to punish Ryan Gosling for existing.

(\o/)

Klaus finds Caroline sitting in her bed surrounded by empty cookie bags. Soap operas tend to have that effect on you.

"Kwauf." Cookie crumbs fall out of her mouth, she's stuffed like a hamster. He sits down on the edge of her bed making her feel incredibly uncomfortable again. Caroline is staring at her hands while Klaus is staring at her.

After swallowing the rest the angel clears her throat.

"Why didn't you kill me?" She asks still avoiding his gaze, fidgeting with the white blanket covering her legs. Her hair is a total mess, her lips seem swollen (guess why?), her hands are shaking—barely but visibly. Klaus thinks he doesn't like her like that, hurt and trembling. It makes him feel guilty. He'd rather bicker with her bright and optimistic self, rolling his bored eyes at her but smiling inwardly with contentment.

"I enjoy you." He admits, his eyes fixed on hers. At least she deserves the truth. "You're beautiful, you're strong, and full of light. You're not what I thought you are, not at all."

At first she gasps and blushes, but then her brain starts processing the data. Finally he trusts her enough to have an honest conversation. Maybe it's her chance, maybe it's the breakthrough she was waiting for.

"Well," she gulps, "I'm not as strong as you may think." Her tentative gaze meets his surprised one.

"I give up. I know I can't beat you. The world's going to end."

Klaus shakes his head like she's telling him a bad joke. "You talk like it's just your problem. I know there's a whole army of angels out there ready to help you." He argues. "Not that they can beat me either, but I know you have a backup."

"You don't understand." She sends him a faint, resigned smile. "It's my fault. I saved Kol when he was a baby. Now the whole world will face the consequences of my great act of mercy." She clenches her fist around the hem of the blanket.

''It was _you?''_ Klaus stares at her with his jaw hanging low. Did she just tell him that she risked her life to save his brother? To preserve a ticking bomb instead of disarm it? Does she know how much he owes her now? Much more than just Apocalypse. Much more than just his brother's life.

He owes her the key to boundless power.

"So I decided to make my own bucket list." She goes on.

"A bucket list?" He frowns. He doesn't have any idea what she's talking about. Does she collect buckets? What can you do with buckets? How can you find buckets interesting? Is there a bucket fetish?

"Um... A list of things you have to do before you die?" Caroline explains. "In my case it will be a list of things I want to do and see before the world ends."

Klaus' jaw tightens and he knits his brows as her words slowly make sense to him. He never looked at death and destruction from this perspective. Nothing ever was about to end for him. Now he sees Caroline making plans for her last days on Earth, and no matter how much he dislikes this world, he just can't help but admire her.

He still owes her pretty much everything, even if she doesn't know about it.

"I'll help you." He says, his eyes honest and shining. "Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do. I'm old enough to know this world like the back of my hand."

"I don't need your pity." _Grandpa._ Caroline bites her lower lip. Did an anvil fall on his head? Mr. Bad is offering his help? Um, hello? Are they going to play little explorers, or what?

"I feel no pity, Caroline. I'm a devil. I'm just offering you some entertainment for the next three weeks."

"Have you ever felt, like, anything?" She narrows her eyes at him. It is really curious, she thinks, usually a stone shows more emotions than Klaus.

"Fury, hate," he murmurs, and Caroline tries to picture a furious stone in her head. "Lust." The last one sends shivers down her spine. She did feel his lust towards her once or twice. It was dark and hungry and overpowering, awakening something wild inside her. It attracts her like a candle attracts a moth.

"What about happiness?"

"I'd call it satisfaction."

"Love?"

"I hate to burst the bubble you live in, but there's no such thing as love, sweetheart."

"You know that's not true."

"There's just ownership based on manipulation and lust." He explains, and the worst thing is that he believes every word he's saying.

''You say so only because you have never seen Ridge and Brooke together.'' Caroline sighs, and decides to take him up on his offer. If he's ready to show her the world before it goes poof, then she will let him.

She's not the only one that needs a bucket list.

(\o/)

"HOW COULD YOU, CAROLINE!" Elena's being dramatic again. "You've just let him think he already won!"

"Trust me, Elena, I know what I'm doing." Caroline tries to appease her friend. Good luck trying to stop a volcano from erupting. "I'm just asking you to give me the benefit of the doubt. Please."

"Doubts are all I have right now." Elena pouts.

"When you met Elijah, did he believe in love? Or happiness?"

Elena sighs. The time she spent with Elijah was exceptional yet she had her duty to fulfil. She never regretted anything so much.

"I don't think so. My betrayal didn't help, I'm afraid." She wasn't just sleeping with Elijah. The hardest part for her was admitting that they did share a special bond, the most regrettable—breaking it forever.

"Did he ever talk about Klaus?" Caroline continues, hoping to learn some secrets. She doesn't know much about her enemy, and they are running out of time. Everything counts as useful.

"Not much. But they did argue about their father. I had an impression that Klaus and Papa Devil didn't get along well."

"That's interesting." Caroline's brain is doing its best to sort out bits and pieces of information.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing, Care?" Elena's voice sounds sceptical.

Caroline nods, more to convince herself than anyone else, "You know what they say, keep your friends close, but your enemies _closer_."

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: Told ya, but hey, the next chapter will come sooner. This one is more serious partly because you can't just fool around all the time, and partly because some not-that-funny stuff has happened lately and I need a moment to restore my good mood.

Curious what Klaus _really_ owes her? Stay tuned!

See you soon my Dear Readers!


	8. without hope we live on

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**without hope we live on**_

**...**

(\o/)

_Lost are we, and are only so far punished,_

_That without hope we live on in desire._

—_Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy_

(\o/)

"Awww." She coos. Klaus just rolls his eyes. What a pain in the ass, that guy picking up a girl on the street.

"I can be fun if you want." Ryan Gosling offers on the screen, and Klaus just silently mocks him with a lip contemptuously curled upward, _I can fuck your brains out if you want._

"Yes, please!" Caroline squeaks at the actor, and she reaches for more cookies to stuff in her mouth.

_They didn't agree on much. In fact they rarely agreed on anything. They fought all the time and they challenged each other everyday. But in spite their differences, they had one important thing in common, they were crazy about each other._

Caroline lets out a deep sigh. Then she looks at Klaus, sighs again irritated, and turns her head back to the screen.

The pair is making out in a car. The angel covers her eyes.

(\o/)

"Come on, Noah!" Caroline sobs. "Don't leave! It's just a fight you two are having!" Tears are running down her cheeks and a pile of used tissues and toilet paper rises behind the couch (because ten packs weren't enough for Caroline's attack of feelings, and mind you, it's not even a half of the movie).

She sniffs out loud and blows her nose even _louder_.

Klaus starts to wonder if somehow getting her discharged from the hospital earlier than she was meant to was a mistake. Maybe something is wrong with her head after all? But Meredith was getting too suspicious about the girl—Caroline's blood type doesn't match any human type, she's not registered anywhere, she doesn't have any legit documents and her treatment was paid with a credit card that doesn't belong to anyone. Yes, she's an enigma, a person that formally doesn't exist. How can you explain it to a doctor and all those bureaucrats?

"No, Allie, you can't marry that guy! He's not Noah!" She bawls, and it reminds Klaus that in fact the only proof that she's now a human girl is that she drools at the sight of Ryan Gosling and weeps her heart out while watching _The Notebook_. Klaus sneaks a glance at Caroline's cleavage, and smiles to himself—her pajama top is so delightfully low cut and the fabric is so temptingly thin. Okay, maybe he can stick on the couch with her for a while.

(\o/)

"That scene! So moving!" She cries on his shoulder, swallowing her tears and trembling with emotions. It's the first time Klaus sees somebody moved to tears by simple rain. She's convulsively weeping latched onto him which he uses to his advantage: he fakes a yawn, stretches his arm, and then—seeing she's too engrossed in the movie to object—wraps it around her. _Score!_

"At least they have sex." He chimes in with a remarkable insight, because he feels like he has to say something comforting. The only thing he earns from her is a meaningful glare.

They suddenly jump apart because keys clank behind the door and it means Kol's back home. He looks more worn out than usual and just trudges to the nearest armchair, then plops himself onto it. His whole body relaxes and sags against the backrest. He tilts his head back, takes a deep breath, closes his eyes for a moment to regain some strength, and then looks back at his flatmates.

Caroline reminds him of a crying llama, while Klaus tries to stay royally calm and composed.

"What happened Caroline?" He mumbles. "Did a total dick break your heart too?"

"Um... I didn't know you had a boyfriend." She frowns, but Kol's indignant glower makes her realize it's not his big coming-out moment.

(For clarity's sake let me tell you that Kol spent the last few hours listening to Meredith's life story consisting of a heartbreak and a lot of work. He never thought his passion for pretty things with sharp tongues would make him stoop so low.)

"She's beautiful. And smart. And nuts, probably." He muses staring at an unspecified point on the ceiling.

"Wow! You fell in love with a girl!" Caroline squeaks happily.

"Nope, he just wants to fuck her." Klaus counters.

"Don't listen to that caveman, Kol! Go and win her heart!"

"Just tell her how amazing she is, how she makes your heart beat faster, how she awakens your soul. Sweet-talk to her, tell her that she's not going to regret any minute spent with you, if only she can give you a chance." Klaus recites dispassionately like it's just a TV-set operating manual. (He should get his own registered trademark: _Klaus Inc, Seducing women since 12 AD._)

It's hard to decide who's more shocked. Caroline blinks at him, her eyebrows rise so high she's afraid there's not enough forehead for them. Did Ryan Gosling take private lessons with that devil? Kol just freezes in his place and gapes at Klaus. Silence reigns in the room.

"Look who's talking." Caroline chokes out. "A guy that apologizes for giving me my first kiss."

Kol's mouth is hanging even lower now. Is he dreaming? Because if he is, it's a nightmare Freddy Krueger planned especially for Kol.

Klaus groans and drags a hand over his face. "I apologized for _biting_ you, not for kissing you, you idiot."

_''Biting?!_ FOR FUCK'S SAKE I really don't want to be PRIVY to what you two are DOING when I'm out!" Kol yells at the top of his lungs covering his ears at the same time. Then he jumps from his seat and rushes to his room. The walls shake when he slams his bedroom door shut. He'll need some time to get over it.

It gets even more awkward without Kol in the room. It's so silent they can hear Kol trashing in the bed, grumbling about his life and cursing it with every offensive word he knows. (And he knows a lot. You'd be impressed.)

Klaus mumbles something under his nose which sounds like, "First kiss ever?"

Caroline just nods shyly.

"Like, ev—"

"YES."

Kol is now lamenting over not getting laid for five months. Five months! And now he doesn't even want to bang a random chick because Meredith cock-blocked him somehow. It's all her fault.

"Did you like it?" Klaus ventures, and Caroline's cheeks blush deep red.

"I did. Very much so." Her blush travels further and reaches her ears.

His lips form a small content smirk. He can't help but feel proud that he was the first to kiss her. You never forget your first kiss, it just gets imprinted in your memory. Being a conceited bastard, Klaus likes to be remembered—_how_ he is remembered is however just a side issue. She's a fine trophy, he concludes (not without satisfaction). He spent so much time on Earth he managed to be the first for a lot of women. Queens, actresses, singers, models (not his favourite type, some of those skinny beauties could have poked his eye out with their bones). Just a kiss shouldn't mean that much for him considering his past, but somehow it seems more intimate than any other memory.

While Klaus is analyzing his last ten centuries on Earth, Caroline is rather making plans for tomorrow.

A digital clock on the shelf shows 4 am. Damn you, Ryan Gosling, Klaus groans. They spent half of the night watching movies with that blonde gigolo.

"I should go to bed." Caroline yawns, suddenly feeling sleepy. "I have to wake up before 12."

"And why is that?" He lets it slip before he can think. It's not his business what she's doing after all. Yet Caroline doesn't consider it suspicious or rude, so she smiles like Klaus is her teenage gossip-hungry bestie.

"I have a meeting with a friend tomorrow morning." She proudly announces grinning at him.

Klaus slowly shakes his head, staring quizzically at her. "Unbelievable. You have friends?" He tries not to laugh at her, but it does surprise him. Only Klaus and his brother seem to accept Caroline's nerdy self (Tyler doesn't count, he chases everything with boobs, real or fake).

"Yes, because unlike you I actually like people, and people like me." She tilts her chin at him defiantly.

"So I need my beauty sleep. Goodnight." The angel spins on her heel and marches to her room, her curls bouncing with every angry stomp she makes. Klaus swears her golden locks have a language of their own.

(\o/)

She looks like a queen in a red maxi dress. Its fabric is so light it wraps around her every curve and dances around her legs when she walks. She seems to be floating in the air then, so alluring. Klaus knows that most of women dress up to make other women jealous, but Caroline is _dressed to_ _kill_. He doesn't have any doubts as to where she's going—too many women dressed like that for him.

The blonde angel has a date.

(\o/)

"I love the smell of cookies in the morning." She inhales sharply and bites off a half of the cookie. They are sitting in their favourite cafe next to the park, watching kids playing outside—so carefree, so happy, so unaware of what's coming.

"Interesting choice of breakfast, you know." Stefan takes a sip of his latte. (Yes, he's a latte guy. Shut up.)

It's noon already. Caroline is a heavy sleeper. She could spend all her life in bed, but considering that her time on Earth is very limited, she has to actually start _living_.

Stefan looks gloomy, almost fatalistic, he doesn't eat anything, just slurs his coffee not talking much. Maybe something bad happened? (Worse than upcoming Apocalypse?)

"What's wrong?" She asks, and all Stefan does is sigh and sulk again. "Come on, Mister Sigh&Sulk." She urges him.

"I'm... leaving LA." His eyes are still fixed on the table.

"When?" Caroline doesn't hide her disappointment. If Stefan leaves she'll be all alone with that whole Apocalypse-business. Not that she wants to let him in on her secret, but it just feels good to have a friend. Klaus can't be friends with her, there's an ideological conflict between them, not to even mention their conflicting goals, and she always tenses around him. Because of him she experiences all kinds of emotions, and thanks to Stefan they go away, thanks to Stefan she calms down.

"Three weeks and I'm gone." Stefan's sad eyes meet hers.

"Well, that's funny, I might be leaving LA too." She tries to comfort him with a warm but faint smile. Caroline is good at trying, but we all know what the road to hell is paved with.

"But hey, there are phones, we'll talk." She tries again. "The world won't end." Her voice wavers.

"No, it won't." Stefan sees she's saddened by something too, and a corner of his mouth goes up. With that creepy half-grin he looks like a wicked troll, but it's worth it-she smiles.

(\o/)

The devil squints his eyes to focus on the cafe window. Damn it, all he sees is Caroline. Klaus would have to get closer to see the stranger's face, but he doesn't want to risk being exposed. She would have the time of her life yelling at him for following her. And just to be clear, he's NOT stalking her. NOPE. He's just bored and she's still an enemy, even if disarmed, and even though he enjoys her.

So he's crouching down on the other side of the park alley, hiding behind a hedge.

Out of the corner of his eye he notices a small blonde girl, maybe six years old, observing him with a frown on her forehead. She's wearing pink and hugging a teddy bear. Is she a smaller version of Caroline walking the earth or what? She mockingly sticks a tongue out at him, so he retaliates by flashing his fangs.

It's just one step too far because the girl starts to cry. Loud.

"Gwanny, this mistew is cweepy!"

Oh great.

Before he can get up from the ground, he gets hit with something incredibly heavy. An anvil, maybe?

"Get the hell out of here you pervert!" A vigorous old lady is hovering over him, threateningly swinging her bag (it's probably where she's carrying the anvil, he deduces) at his head .

"Watching innocent kids, huh?" She croaks, kicking him in the shin. "You will burn in hell!" The anvil-bag flies at him once again. Punch!

"Are you nuts?" He yells still lying on the ground. Those crazy old ladies, still feisty, he groans, nothing has changed since Middle Ages. Punch!

Then she kicks him in the gut with a pointy tip of her shoe, cutting the discussion short.

(\o/)

"Look, an old lady is screaming outside." Caroline points to the other side of the alley where a warrior granny is kicking somebody that's lying on the ground.

"Can you see who she's screaming at?" Stefan cocks an eyebrow.

"No. The hedge is blocking my view." She grimaces.

"It's probably a pedo." He muses. "Those grannies are well-trained to combat creeps like that."

"Really?" Caroline's eyes widen.

"You have no idea."

(\o/)

Caroline leaves the cafe and decides to take a walk in solitude.

She really tries to forget about what Klaus told her. He enjoys her. (He thinks she's beautiful.) He sketches her. (According to Elena he's obsessed with her.) He says she's full of light. (While he's doomed to darkness.) He says she's strong. (She isn't.)

And here's the worst thing that keeps her awake at night: she really liked that kiss. Caroline always thought only lovers are entitled to kiss, but even if Klaus fancies her and she, let's say, isn't totally _immune_ to his charm, they will never be lovers. Still, the kiss was nice. It made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe, she thought, if he also, um, had a good time kissing her, then maybe, just that tiny little maybe, they could kiss again.

Just, you know, as a form of recreation.

(\o/)

The sky is covered with dark clouds when by a strange twist of fate (it's incredible, she thinks, they just keep running into each other) they meet in the park. Caroline's going home while Klaus is sitting on a bench, with a black eye and grim expression. Ominous.

(''What happened to your eye?'' Caroline grimaces. He looks like he stole Mike Tyson's tiger and got punished. ''A street fight.'' He mumbles, avoiding her gaze. Well, theoretically it _was_ a street fight. And technically... don't you dare say anything.)

It remains a mystery whether Klaus' mood matches the weather or maybe the weather matches Klaus' mood. One thing's certain: a storm is coming.

(\o/)

It seems that the heavens opened, because both Klaus and Caroline get caught in a sudden downpour. It doesn't escape his notice that Caroline's dress is now clinging to her body tightly. The thin fabric is soaking wet, and Klaus' eye wanders towards her ass (''Don't you even dare, Klaus'') as they keep walking home.

Because Caroline likes some occasional drama (being soaked to the skin is a nice dramatic touch) she stops, and with rain falling heavily on her head, she says—or rather whimpers, because she's shivering,

''I saw your sketches.'' It's neither an accusation nor praise. It's just... Caroline with wet hair plastered to her face.

Because Klaus is a heartless bastard (surprised and maybe even a bit ashamed of getting caught, but still a bastard), he shrugs it off,

''So what?'' His drenched shirt is now sticking to his chest—um, distracting much?

''So...'' Caroline's lips form a lovely 'o'. Good question. ''So, if you want me to pose for a portrait, all you have to do is ask.''

''And why would you do that for me?'' He eyes her with distrust.

Caroline fakes a casual shrug. ''Let's call it... a form of recreation.''

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: **Uno:** Just so you know, I saw The Notebook for the first (and LAST) time just to write this chapter. LOOK HOW MUCH I CAN SACRIFICE FOR YOU, GUYS.

**Dos aka disclaimer**: Quotes from The Notebook come from The Notebook, obviously. (I owe nothing, fortunately).

**Tres:** I still have to study, but every minute of my free time I will dedicate to PFTL.

**Cuatro:** You are amazing, with all your reviews and messages and trolling on tumblr! If you think flattery can get you somewhere, then... you're absolutely right. Ha!

But seriously, you rock and rule :)

See you soon! :3


	9. driven on by the flesh

**Paradise for the Lost**

_**...**_

_**driven on by the flesh**_

_**...**_

(\o/)

_My poor body, madam, requires it: I am driven on_

_by the flesh; and he must needs go that the devil drives._

—_William shakespeare, All's Well that Ends Well_

(\o/)

"Caroline, you promised!" Klaus bangs his fist against her bedroom door.

"I didn't know there were conditions written in a small print!" Caroline protests.

"Caroline!" He yells half-threateningly, half-encouragingly, losing his patience.

"No!"

Klaus' nostrils flare as he purses his lips. He does look like an angry bull right now. If he had hooves, he'd be pawing the ground before charging.

Let me explain this curious predicament they currently find themselves in: earlier this day Klaus catches her in the living room and announces that _he needs her right here right now_. Before Caroline's jaw goes back from the ground to its rightful place he explains that... he feels like sketching.

Sketching! That son of a...

She volunteered to pose, so he wants her to pose. In the nude.

When Caroline hears the magic N-word she dashes to her room with the speed of light and locks herself in. ("You won't get me alive!")

"All right." He says with a cunning smirk. "I promised you something as well, remember?"

Still hiding behind the door, she grumbles something about the worth of a devil's promise.

"Come out, I'm taking you somewhere."

Silence. Klaus smirks, _she's about to cave in._

"Where?" _See? Told ya. _

"It's a surprise."

(\o/)

When he tells Caroline he's taking her to a museum she's so excited she forgets that whole 'I need you in the nude' thing. Come on, museums! History of humankind! Places where the past meets the present and makes you think!

Klaus has been living for so long he surely knows pretty much everything about history. He's a part of it, want it or not. ("You are, in fact, a relic of the past." She laughs at him, but _oddly enough_ it doesn't amuse him. Just you wait, he smirks.)

He tells her: art. She squeaks. Yay! Art, a way people could escape real life and make themselves truly immortal. They could tell a whole story with strokes of brush and colours. She remembers some famous Italian painters she met in Heaven. Nice people, very enthusiastic, just gesticulate too much.

Caroline looks like a little puppy that just got taken for its first walk in the park and is so happy it would hump random people's legs. However, like you all probably know, fortune's a fickle mistress. The title of the exhibition they are going to see leaves the angel upset and blushing.

_Art Nude._

"What's the matter, Caroline?" Klaus grins at her with a tremendous (even vile) satisfaction. "It's your team that invented it after all."

(\o/)

Kol's fists clench and unclench as he stands face to face with a hospital security guard that looks like Hulk, only fully dressed.

"I am telling you for the last time." Huffs the man. "You are not allowed into the ward unless you are a patient or a visitor."

"What language do I speak, Chinese?" Fists unclench. "I need to talk to Dr. Fell!" Fists clench.

"These are the rules." The Hulk-man bars Kol's way. He looks very determined to send Kol home, but he doesn't know that Kol's even more determined to get inside.

Then, to Hulk's utter surprise, Kol takes a run-up, in a few long jumps he gets across the hallway, a white wall is getting closer and closer to his face_—_

"I spit in the face of rules!" He announces triumphantly.

—then crashes into a wall, hitting his head against it and falls to the floor unconscious.

(\o/)

Stop covering your eyes, he tells her.

Nudity in art was acceptable even when societies rejected nudity in general, he explains. It's one of the main sources of inspiration, the body. Look at that copy of Achilles_—_

("Oh my, he's not wearing any pants!")

—it's called _heroic nudity_. Caroline finally stops pretending the floor has captivated her attention, and shoots the Greek hero a quick glance. She swoons with delight at the sight of those hard muscles emanating strength and virility. Klaus smirks under his nose seeing her flushed cheeks. That's the problem with physiology_—_it's stronger than your mind. Physiology is your true face, raw and unadulterated, when the mask of convention falls off.

His hand rests lightly on the small of her back as he leads her to another sculpture. It does not escape Caroline's notice, but she decides to let it slip. (Not that she likes his touch or anything. Because she doesn't. No. Of course not. She could never... Okay, maybe it's not that horrible, you know.)

"And this is the Esquiline Venus. The original one remains in Rome, of course." It's a woman standing upright, naked and with her arms cut off. White marble skin, so smooth and inviting Caroline almost reaches her hand to touch it. Venus is curvy and sexy, and the angel has to admit that this old ancient goddess is nothing but beautiful.

"Isn't she stunning?" He asks looking straight at the sculpture, and Caroline sees genuine appreciation in his eyes. Yes, Caroline's stunned, but more by his amazed face. It's not lust, it's not greed, it's pure admiration. She catches herself wistfully wishing she had somebody who'd admire her as much.

(\o/)

They move to the next section which is painting, and Klaus' eyes get even brighter. For a couple of hours they spend in the museum the devil seems not so soulless as he always claimed to be. Caroline soon gets used to ubiquitous nudity and stops blushing. She adapts Klaus' point of view and enjoys the paintings: rich colours, pale faces, luscious bodies.

"And this is _La maja desnuda_, in English The Nude Maja." He points at a naked girl sprawled on a bed of pillows, her skin matching the whiteness of the cushion. It contrasts also with the dark background and with her brown locks falling on her left shoulder. Caroline stares at the woman's breasts_—_full, perky, exposed with no shame, a freedom manifesto. Her cheeks are covered with a subtle blush, but her eyes_—_a pair of bold brown eyes so mysterious and confident_—_tell Caroline it was not embarrassment that lent pink shade to her face.

Klaus' voice wakes Caroline up.

"There's another version of this painting, the one where she's fully clothed." Seeing Caroline's interested, he goes on. "Goya painted two versions, and it was rumoured that the model was his lover."

"That would explain the blush." Caroline cocks an eyebrow making Klaus chuckle.

"The clothed one was shown to the visitors on a regular basis. The nude one was kept in a private collection, shown only to the closest friends and most important guests of the Spanish Prime Minister."

"Wow."

"Yeah, they were exactly like you_, _looking oh-so-proper and prudish, but just under the surface there's a volcano ready to erupt." Klaus teases her with a grin plastered on his face. Her reaction differs from what he'd expect, though. Caroline tilts her head back, her curls falling down her back, and she laughs heartily at his comment.

"That Goya guy must have been quite handsome if he had such a lover." She giggles. "Even if he cut his ear off."

Klaus stifles a laugh. "Caroline."

"What?"

"It was Van Gogh."

"Oh."

(\o/)

"It's just a bruise, you'll be alright soon."

He's still lying on a bed in the emergency room with his eyes closed.

"I know you are fully conscious." Meredith accuses him. "But I admit, you're good at pretending. Poor guard, he freaked out."

Kol's lips form a satisfied smirk. He lazily opens his eyes and blinks twice. Meredith's crossed arms and frown on her face are pretty much self-explanatory. It's yet another case of Kol putting her to shame in front of the hospital staff. Fellow doctors throw her teasing smiles, nurses gossip behind her back, and her patients_—_those old ladies that see romance everywhere_—_keep telling her she has such a lovely boyfriend.

(She did have one, but he dumped her to drink his life away with his best buddy, and this whelp that runs into wall to gain a minute of her time is not even worth a look. Well, maybe just one. But not more.)

"Call someone from your family to pick you up in case you feel dizzy."

Kol frowns. "Um, I don't have a family."

"Everyone has a family."

"I don't." Meredith flinches slightly at his words, but tries to keep her poker face on.

"Even if you didn't lose consciousness you hit your head pretty hard. You're an idiot, Kol Mikaelson." Meredith's face seems stone-cold, her tone harsh and dry. Kol stares at her disheartened. It's not exactly what he wanted to achieve by his daredevil stunt.

He sits up, his legs hanging from the bed. "I listened to your every word yesterday. The whole story. You cried on my shoulder."

"It was a one-time thing." She pouts. What else can she say really? After telling him everything about her life, her relationship which turned out to be a failure (a total washout!), and too much work that stresses her out every time a patient dies.

"Five minutes of your precious time, doc. Maybe I won't faint from excessive happiness." Kol playfully raises his eyebrows, using his boyish charm. Or at least what he considers his boyish charm. He's just invented it.

Meredith adjusts her stethoscope like it's a tie, pinches the tip of her nose and sighs.

"I finish my duty in an hour. I'll drive you home."

(\o/)

It's already dark outside when Caroline and Klaus leave the museum. Time passes quickly when you're having fun, and fun is exactly how Caroline would describe her day spent with the devil.

He was telling her breathtaking stories and curiosities from artists' lives. Some of them he knew personally_—_writers, painters, actors. He used to argue with Michaelangelo ("a really uptight prick, you know") but learned a lot from him. He inspired Oscar Wilde to write The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Vincent Van Gogh turned out to be a grat drinking buddy, absinthe being their personal favourite. He used to play tricks on that nerdy Aleister Crowley, because come on, the conceited bastard really thought himself a prophet. A prophet! Klaus had an attack of raucous laughter while telling Crowley's story. He befriended some political figures, some kings or other leaders. The devil didn't just plan but he _plotted_, having a blast.

Caroline asked about women_—_not that she's really interested, she just likes gossip, okay? So he did sleep with many. As an artist he preferred beautiful ones that would sate his lust. He never slept more than once with the same woman. Never.

Even if she wanted to, Caroline couldn't share any memories, because she basically doesn't have any. No men, no famous friends, no life at all. Just Heaven, choir, and her dancing in the clouds when no one could see her.

"Such a good girl dancing in the clouds! I'm shocked!" He mocks her as they stroll across the park. She sticks her tongue out at him, wrinkling her nose.

"Look who's talking. An evil demon that likes to _draw_."

"Evil or good, it's all a matter of perspective, love." He reasons.

"Well, for me it's quite clear. Black and white." Caroline hugs her arms-it's an unusually cold night.

"Little naive Caroline." Klaus chuckles. "The only difference between your team and my team is that you try to keep people happily ignorant and away from sin, while we are giving them a choice. Choice means freedom. We're constantly challenging them. I don't tell a man to rob a bank, I just give him a gun and a bag. What he does with those things is his own bidding."

Caroline wants to protest but she knows it's a futile struggle. He does have a point. She remembers the only one big choice she made in her life - saving Kol. She remembers the feeling of fulfilment when she followed her heart.

Choice is never easy, but people shouldn't live blindfolded.

(\o/)

"Promise you won't look!" Caroline's being childish again. She's standing in her bedroom door wrapped in a white sheet, her hands clutching on the fabric in front of her chest. Klaus coughs at the sight of her in a makeshift robe, with those blonde curls falling on her bare shoulders. She looks like a Greek goddess. Radiant. Flawless. Exquisite

"How can I sketch you then?" He chuckles. ''With my eyes closed? I might be supernatural, but not _that_ talented.''

''You've drawn me before.''

''From memory. But I can't draw you nude from memory because I've never seen you in the nude.'' He finds immense pleasure in torturing her. Probably because it can divert her attention from the party that's going on in his pants right now. (Are you familiar with the expression 'party _hard_'? So, yeah. Exactly.) He imagined her in the nude many times. With him. Under him. And now she's standing meters away covered only with a sheet. These pants are definitely too small for his massive... ego.

She's uncompromising, so he sits her down on a bar stool with her back turned to him. She has to lower the robe so her back stays bare while she can still keep the fabric up around her front, and then turns her face to the left so he can see her profile. With her hair brushed to the front on the right side Klaus can sketch the column of her neck, the straight line of her back, the curve of her bottom, and of course, her angelic profile. She keeps her eyes half-shut, giving him a smouldering look from under her long lashes, her lips parted lazily. She looks simply amazing.

It's good enough for the first sketch. With one trip to a museum he taught her a lesson. Maybe she'll completely open next time and will pose for him like he always wanted her to. Small steps, he's telling himself. They still have three weeks.

''Stop hunching your back.'' Klaus lets out a frustrated groan. ''Why do you keep doing this?''

Caroline doesn't know. Maybe she still doesn't feel comfortable enough covering her chest with a sheet. But she remembers The Nude Maja_—_looking so thriving, with all the femininity, full breasts, a bold gaze.

Then she feels a hand running up her back and she straightens up instinctively.

''That's more like it.'' Klaus smirks at her movement. Suddenly his deep blue eyes darken, and his hand, as if it had a mind of its own, doesn't want to break the contact with the soft skin of Caroline's back. His finger trails down her spine making her gasp.

(That's not what she thought sketching would look like. _No touchy_ is her first rule, or it used to be, because it doesn't seem like a priority right now as she arches her back under his touch.)

''W-what are you doing?'' She stutters while his hand travels to the small of her back and then chooses her stomach as its main goal. It glides over her bellybutton and goes up while his other hand skims down her neck and down her side. Slipping under her right breast it meets with the left hand, both of them resting on Caroline's ribs. Her chest starts to rise and fall faster and faster along with her quickened breathing.

His lips touch her earlobe, sending shivers down her spine. ''I'm giving you a choice.'' He murmurs and places a light kiss right behind her ear.

The sheet falls to the floor as he cups her breasts and starts to plant kisses down her neck. His lips are soft and hot and wet, and Caroline can't help but sigh. She forgets she's _naked,_ with her back pressed to a devil's chest, his hands caressing her breasts and his lips working miracles down her neck. All she can think of is how warm she's getting inside, her whole body feeling this familiar hunger once again. Her hand darts to his neck, pressing on it, making his kisses even harder. She feels his teeth scrape against her collarbone, but there's no trace of fangs. (He's going to eat her up, oh yes he is, but this time in a different way.)

Her body whizzes around and two strong arms lift her from the stool so she's face to face with him, her hands wrapped around his neck and her legs hooked around his waist. His lips crash onto hers like a tidal wave, and she gives into it completely. Her fingers play with the mess his hair became because of her while he nibbles at her lower lip, their tongues battling, his mouth claiming hers.

Caroline's back hits the mattress and sinks into it under Klaus' weight. A need to feel his skin against her skin overwhelms her, so her hands tug at the t-shirt he's wearing and soon it flies to the floor.

She grinds her hips against his urging him to take off every piece of clothing that remains on his body, and Klaus grins against her neck-he was right, she is indeed a volcano. The one that erupts unexpectedly and wipes out entire villages and cities, devours land, destroys everything on its way.

His hand slides up her leg that is hooked around his waist and grabs her butt pulling it closer. Then he claims her in the most intimate way humanity knows, and she _screams__—_with pain, with shock, then with pleasure_—_when an unknown sensation fills every inch of her body. Right here, right now nothing matters but Klaus being on her, inside her, with her, peppering her neck and chest with butterfly kisses, panting against her collarbones, purring words of praise, telling her _she's a Greek goddess, a work of art, a marble queen._ And she believes him, because she feels like all of them while her body rocks against his. If she's a volcano then he must be a storm, a hurricane that sinks ships and devastates islands rendering them truly deserted.

It's all new to her, new and intoxicating, leading her into a trance. Her head spins with his every thrust, and when he looks at her face Caroline's eyes are clouded with bliss and desire. All she can think of right now is how wonderful it feels to have his naked body on her. Entwined in his embrace the angel sinks into a state of ecstasy incomparable with anything she knows. (Even cookies, and mind you, that's really something.)

_Yes._ Her gasps and moans send him to the edge _Oh. _Their moves become frantic as euphoria seizes them, and Caroline lets out a loud moan when a wave of numbness and warmth sweeps her away. She doesn't know this feeling, but it is truly divine.

Klaus' body collapses onto hers and she welcomes him in an embrace, stroking his head. They lay tangled in sheets, covered with sweat, still panting.

Caroline closes her eyes, and still keeping Klaus in her arms she slowly drifts off, thinking about how life is the art of making choices.

**…**

**..**

**.**

**..**

**…**

**A/N#1**: Oh those sinners!

**#2:** This chapter is a little tribute to my university professor whose lectures on history of art made me love Spanish painters. Not only them, but mostly.

**#3:** Curious what will happen next? You know Klaus still has his evil agenda while Caroline has a plan on her own, so... ;) I'm waiting for your theories, so clickey-click in the space below and drop me a word!

**#4**: Those who message me on tumblr – you are crazy crazy heads!


	10. full of doubt I stand

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**full of doubt I stand**_

**...**

(\o/)

_Full of doubt I stand,_

_Whether I should repent me now of sin_

_By me done, and occasioned; or rejoice_

_Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring_

—_John Milton, Paradise Lost_

(\o/)

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Caroline gasps and opens her eyes. She's just had the most dramatic nightmare ever. A catastrophe, her personal apocalypse, calamity. In her dream they run out of cookies, then the whole world run out of cookies. And she was sitting in a submarine pen crying her heart out. She looked in the mirror only to see a giant octopus staring back at her, and it croaked "No cookies!" and tottered away on two tentacles.

She tries to stir in the bed, but a strong arm wrapped around her waits stops her from moving. Wait, an arm? She looks around (as much as the position lets her): it's definitely not her bed, it's definitely not her room, and it's definitely not... well, not her arm. _Hello Mr. Biceps._

Oh yes, she remembers, they, um, had a long sketching session. He sketched her thoroughly. It was incredible and wonderful (you devil you), but now that famous awkward morning after comes and kicks Caroline in the teeth. She wishes she could ask Elena what to do now, because it's Caroline's _first_ morning after. Should she thank him or something?

Caroline's trying to delicately peel his hand off her, but the move backfires at her when Klaus' embrace becomes even tighter, and now she's pressed against his chest like a teddy bear. In fact every part of his naked body is pressed against Caroline quite firmly. Every, you know, _part_.

Caroline gulps. _Think cookie thoughts, think cookie thoughts!_ Cookie apocalypse, no more cookies on the planet, the evil nazi octopus! She squirms nervously like an earthworm trying to get away from a bird, twisting and wriggling and wrestling his arm in a very peculiar, awkward agony of being naked against another naked body.

Eventually Caroline manages to free herself from his grip and falls to the floor hitting her head against a night table.

Motherfu_—_

_Okay, bruised but unbowed_, she tells herself, _keep calm and crawl your way out of the room_. (Eww, he really needs to vacuum-clean this rug.) When the mission is accomplished, she grabs her pink phone determined to call the only emergency she knows: Elena.

(\o/)

You must be curious what happened to Kol that night.

Well, first of all, _sex_ happened to him. Before you cheer and congratulate him, you need to know that it was his flatmates' sex that happened to him.

He has an evil plan ready. When Meredith parks her car outside his home, Kol grins and tells her, "I might faint on my way up. You know, if I fall down the stairs I'll hold you responsible." He gets exactly what he wants_—_Meredith agrees to drop by for a cup of tea. Kol is praying for at least one bag of tea left in the kitchen. If not, he'll make her a cup of coffee and keep her in his room for the whole night, yes he will definitely do it. Damn, he thinks, did he clean his room? Are there any condoms left in his drawer? (You know, Kol dreams big.)

Exactly when he wants to open the door to the apartment, they hear a loud _ohhhhh_. And then even louder _yes!_ And then some more moaning. Suddenly Kol feels like a bear that comes home and finds out Goldilocks ate his porridge: somebody is having loud and passionate sex in his flat. _Yes __please yes_! Not the best soundtrack for the first date, Kol thinks in despair.

Meredith frowns with confusion, then clears her throat and says, "You know what? Let's go back to the car."

"Yeah."

And so Kol spends a very un-romantic night on Meredith's couch wearing her ex-boyfriend's T-shirt with 'SEXY TEACHERRR' printed on it.

So much for winning Meredith's heart.

(\o/)

"Caroline, you can't!"

"I have to, Elena. It's stronger than me."

"You can fight it."

"I can't!"

"How many packs did you buy?"

"Um... maybe three." Caroline looks down at her cart. Guilty, guilty face.

"Caroline!"

"Okay, thirteen!"

As soon as Caroline dressed up, she run to the nearby store and gave vent to her obsessive-compulsive cookie disorder. It's because she's stressed, okay? She had a very rough night (insert a teenage giggle here).

"Elena, what did you do after sleeping with Elijah?" She pushes her cart not noticing weird stares she receives from random people.

Her friend stays silent for a moment, confused and embarrassed.

"What do you mean?" Elena's voice sounds a bit shaky.

"I mean_—_oh joy, muffins! One pack won't do any harm_—_I mean the morning after. You woke up and what?"

Caroline doesn't need to see Elena's face to know her cheeks are now burning red. Beetroot red. She can swear Elena's the loudest blushing person in the whole world.

''We, um, you know, just did it again.''

Thanks Elena. Helpful as always.

(\o/)

Klaus wakes up and stretches in the bed feeling warm sheets against his naked body. Every muscle flexes as a satisfied smile spreads on his face. _Caroline_. That little blonde (scatterbrained, paranoid) work of art. He forgot himself last night. Like, an all-night-long amnesia. Serious case of blackout. Well, maybe just selective amnesia, because he does remember what he wants to remember. Her skin, so delicate (she's a marble queen indeed), her curves (she must have been elaborately carved by Michelangelo himself), the way she writhed in sweet agony under him (like an oriental dancer from those romanticized, exotic images of harem life), and her welcoming arms wrapped around him in a close, warm embrace, bringing comfort to his troubled mind (she's a goddess he could pray all night to).

Klaus doesn't know why, neither does he know how, but she makes him forget what it means to be _him._ She's a drug, Prozac, Valium, opium, a shot of endorphines right into a vein.

With one eye open he scans the room. An empty side of his bed with cold sheets_, _that's all she left_,_ his smirk serves as the only reminder that a few hours ago they were wet and rumpled. Of course she sneaked out in the morning. Every woman he slept with_—_every one, and mind you, that's a lot_—_always begged for more (and didn't get it, you know the drill). So it would surprise him if Caroline did the same. She's not every woman. She's too smart, too strong to beg. That's why he likes her. That's why for the first time in his long existence Klaus thinks that _maybe_ he could break his golden rule. Maybe he could... spend more time with her. They will never see each other again after he takes Kol home. His brother hasn't been causing any trouble so far, so everything should go smoothly. No need to watch over him 24/7.

In less than three weeks Klaus will have everything he ever wanted_—_thanks to Caroline.

Until then, he'll have _her._

(\o/)

"YOU DID NOT_—_"

"I did."

"_—_SLEEP WITH_—_Oh Caroline." Elena whines. "You could have chosen a better moment."

Surprised and amazed, Caroline raises her eyebrows. No _shame on you, Caroline_? Or at least, _you should repent_? No Victorian-like scolding? All she hears from her prudish and straight-laced friend is, _you could have done it in a better moment_? This must be an omen of upcoming Apocalypse.

"A better moment?" The blonde chokes out.

"I mean, to distract him like that." Right. Desperate measures for desperate times.

"But I didn't want to _distract_ him, Elena. It just happened."

Elena seems to be thinking carefully about the whole situation. It makes Caroline even more nervous.

"Did you enjoy it, Care?" She seems upset.

"It was... amazing." Caroline admits without shame. Because it was, and being with him that night sent her to a different dimension. It wasn't only his body or how he made her feel. It was not about tangled sheets and sweating bodies. It was the little sliver of intimacy they shared that moved her. The words that he probably whispered to his countless lovers, but that particular night he was with her_—_not next to her, not by her side, not objectifying her, but really _with her__—_and it's all that matters.

Maybe it's just her imagination, but she felt him care, she felt his longing for something she didn't recognize. For a split of a second she felt a deep and unutterable _sadness_ he must have buried long time ago somewhere in his heart. Between stocking up with cookies and contemplating the awkwardness of the first (and probably the last) morning after in her life, Caroline can't stop wondering about the tragedy that happened to Klaus, because she's sure there's something he keeps secret, something that resurfaces only when he lets his guard down.

"So it's good it won't happen again." Elena concludes. "Because eventually you would fall for him, and believe me, Caroline, I know what I'm saying when I tell you: you better don't."

(\o/)

Just when Klaus gets out of the shower Caroline enters the flat loaded down like a pack mule. Way too many grocery bags in her hands block her view, and they almost fall to the floor when she peeps out from behind them and sees Klaus wearing only a towel around his waits.

"Well, well, well." He crosses his arms in front of him. Caroline's eyes dart to his flat stomach and she gulps. "Here's my marble queen."

_Stay cool, act cool, be cool. It was just a one night stand, he had thousands of them, don't let him boast. You're just a link in his long chain of lovers. _She hides her face behind the bags and slowly sidesteps towards the kitchen like a crab.

"Come on." He takes a few bags from her (to her utter confusion). "Where did you go?"

"I_—_I went on a cookie spree." Caroline announces boldly as she starts to unpack the bags. Don't look at his abs, don't_—_

"A cookie spree." He coughs, holding back a laugh.

"Yes. Because you never know when the evil octopus will strike." Thirteen bags of cookies, four muffins, flour...

"Evil octopus. Of course." Klaus nods in the most serious way he can fake.

"I'm baking today." She will bake her emotions away. She needs to keep herself occupied. White and brown sugar, eggs, milk...

"Of cour_—_WHAT?"

"Also, I invited a friend." Chocolate chips, vanilla extract...

"Why_—_"

"And please, do not throw him off the stairs, okay?" And baking soda. Yes, perfect. _Stay cool. Must. Not. Look._

"You bought thirteen packs of cookies, and still are going to bake?" She's standing by the kitchen table, all bold and cheeky, not even close to what she looked like yesterday when he was done with her. Klaus has to admit, this girl never ceases to amaze him. Just when he thinks he's got her figured out, she's changing her spots.

Caroline just shrugs. "Oh, I bought them just in case. It dawned on me that those cookies are all the same. And I want something special, something unique, not another cookie in the bag, you know."

"Something special." He frowns, thoughtfully licking his lips, his stare absent.

(\o/)

"Did you sleep well?" Meredith asks as she hands Kol a cup of coffee and sits by his side on the couch. He looks terrible. His hair is a mess, he's got dark circles under his eyes, and Rick's T-shirt doesn't suit him at all.

"Yeah." All Kol gets is a doubtful glare from her. "Not really."

"You were calling someone in your sleep."

"Was I? Damn. Sorry." He sighs and drags a hand over his face. It's been the same dream over and over again since he moved to LA, sometimes nice and funny, but there are also nights like this, filled with horror.

"Who's Rebekah? And Elijah?" Meredith's searching look doesn't leave Kol's face.

He cringes. It's been driving him crazy for months. "The problem is, I don't know."

(\o/)

The kitchen looks like a whole military unit marched through it plundering it and leaving a total chaos behind. _MESS_ doesn't even begin to describe it. There's flour scattered all over the floor, one egg broken on the table, a trail of white sugar going from the table to the sink, and another of brown sugar around the chair. Klaus' sixth sense knew what was coming, so he ducked out of baking with Caroline and went out to buy some whiskey.

(He won't take it sober. Besides, she's obviously screwing with his mind, acting like nothing happened while it's him who's supposed to be manhandling the situation like this. Who does she think she is? Fine, she wants a cold war, she'll get one.)

Caroline dashes to the door when the doorbell rings. Stefan seems to be in a much better mood than usual which makes Caroline's smile grow wider. She hugs him tightly and gestures at him to come in.

"The crime scene looks horrible, but I must say it smells delicious." He gives her an appreciative nod.

"You'll see yourself. They should be ready in fifteen minutes."

Stefan looks around. The flat is definitely too big for just one person. It has a large living room with an open kitchen, a bathroom and three bedrooms.

"Are you living here alone?"

Caroline clears her throat. She knew Stefan would ask about it. What will his reaction be when he learns she's living with a devil under one roof?

"I have two flatmates. Kol, a bartender, lives in the room on the left. And look over there, there's my room, and the adjoining one belongs to my second flatmate—"

"Klaus." Stefan mumbles angrily. _Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world..._ Damn you, Klaus. Caroline, surprised and confused, turns around to face him, and then KABOOM! she sees Klaus standing in the doorway with a bottle of whiskey in one hand, and inquiring look saying, _what the hell is going on?_ (Well, his infuriated glower adds some strong curse words, but let's not repeat it verbatim.)

"Um, Klaus, this is my friend—"

"Stefan. What are you doing here?" He cuts her off. This time she's really pissed.

"Great." She puts her hands on her hips like a little Miss Sassy she is. "Go ahead and talk like I'm not here if you know so well what I want to say." She huffs. Then she gasps, flabbergasted.

"Wait a minute, do you two know each other?"

"I see ruining my sister's life wasn't enough so now you make cow eyes to Caroline." Klaus slams the door after him, his grasp on the bottle so tight he's about to crush its neck. Instantly the energy in the room shifts. It gets heavy and hard to breathe.

"That's funny, you sound jealous." Stefan cocks an eyebrow at his friend. "I didn't know you abandoned your masterplan for a girl."

"Excuse me?" Caroline looks goggle-eyed at both of them.

"You know it's not the case." Klaus snorts. "But, talking about the girl, I wonder who are you going to choose? Your friend Caroline, or your beloved Rebekah?"

''I am _the girl_ now?''

"Isn't it too soon to try on the crown? You're not the ruler yet."

"I like to be prepared when the moment comes. You better be too."

Klaus and Stefan are facing each other with stern expressions and tensed bodies.

"A crown? What are you talking about?" _Curiouser and curiouse_r, suddenly Caroline's feeling like in Wonderland, except there's no wonders around her. Just two loonies.

''Has she seen your true face?'' Klaus's vicious smirk aims straight at Stefan who doesn't even blink. (_What face? Does Stefan have fangs, too?_ Her thoughts are racing.)

''Well, I'm sure she's seen _yours._ What else did you show her, Klaus?''

Klaus' smirk turns into a wide grin. ''Now it's you who sounds jealous, my dear friend.''

''Um, guys, can you smell tha_—'_'

''I think she's more of a friend to me than you.'' Stefan tilts his head.

''_—_something is_—_''

''You better don't get too friendly with her.'' A growl escapes Klaus' mouth.

''_—_BURNING!''

Finally they notice Caroline. They notice her and the smoke coming from the oven. When she opens it a puff of gray smoke fills the room and a smell of burnt dough hits their nostrils.

''Oh no!'' She cries. Then she slowly and menacingly raises her head, glares_—_and it's a glower so dark it would even send shivers down Dracula's own spine_—_at two men standing in the living room, both of them scared all of a sudden. Klaus gulps while Stefan steps behind him. Caroline looks like the whole Hell is speaking through her eyes, and it's pure fury.

''MY. COOKIES.'' The blonde is a picture perfect of a candidate for an exorcism. Seething. Rabid.

Then the door gets kicked open. Kol is standing in the living room, puzzled and agitated, gaping at the shemozzle going on in his apartment: a mess in the kitchen? Smoke? Burned stuff? His eyes wander from Klaus to Caroline and then to Stefan, and then to Caroline again.

''What the fuck is wrong with you people?'' He rages. ''Last night you two were screwing like two animals during the peak of a mating season, and I thought, okay Kol, let them have some.'' Stefan sends Caroline a shocked look. _You, he, what? _Kol rambles on_. _''I said to myself, don't be a dog in the manger, Kol. The fact that you're not getting any doesn't mean that your flatmates can't ROLL IN THE HAY!'' He yells.

''But this?'' Kol points an accusatory finger at Stefan making him jump. ''Is this a threesome now? Because if it is, please go and shag somewhere else! I had a rough night too, HA. HA.'' He deadpans.

Now it's Caroline that stares shocked at both Klaus and Stefan. The latter sighs.

''I think I'll leave you to sort the things out.''

''But_—_'' Caroline, still confused by the whole commotion, wants to protest, but Stefan hushes her with a gesture.

''I think Klaus didn't tell you the whole story. We'll talk later.'' And he trudges away, leaving them even more upset, with burnt cookies, a bottle of whiskey, and temporarily unstable Kol.

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N Uno:**: I'm sorry you had to wait so long, it was uni stuff that kept me awake at night, but hopefully it will be over till October.

**Dos:** Hugs for the reviewer Thea, my neighbour (sort of;)), who spends way too much time reading fanfiction to the utter despair of her mom and friend, but to my delight. ;) I'm glad you liked my other stories!

**Tres:** Also, there's a new story of mine called **_Null and Void_** coming soon, but don't worry, I'm not ditching PFTL, I just want to write something more down-to-earth, so I'll be posting two stories at the same time, more or less. I hope you like it, there's a description of it on my tumblr.

**Cuatro:** There's more to Klaus' family story, but I think you already noticed that. Don't be confused, my lovelies, it's all becoming clear in the next chapter. Thank you for your support and that most of you understand that this story is AU and sometimes slightly OOC _on purpose_. I'm just playing with the characters, do not take any of this too seriously, k? :)


	11. better to reign in hell

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**better to reign in Hell**_

**...**

(\o/)

_Here we may reign secure, and in my choice_

_to reign is worth ambition though in Hell:_

_Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven._

—_John Milton, Paradise Lost_

(\o/)

The sound of door slamming leaves Caroline alone in the kitchen. Kol locks himself in his room while Klaus takes the bottle of whiskey with him. The bottle is already half empty when Caroline dares sneak into his bedroom. He's lying on his back with a forearm resting on his closed eyes, looking like a textbook case of 'leave-me-alone-or-die'.

She tiptoes towards the bed, but just when she's ready to sit down on its edge she hears a firm,

"Don't."

She gingerly straightens up and bites her lip.

"Don't you think you owe me an explanation?"

"No." He owes her much more than that, but fortunately for him, she doesn't know it. "Get out."

She mockingly wrinkles her nose at him crossing her arms.

"I'm not leaving until you answer my questions."

"Then you'll starve yourself to death. Again, I don't care." Klaus just wishes she would go away and leave him with all those nagging thoughts running through his head like it is a playground, and his problems are swings you can swing on. It's not safe to have her in the same room while he's raging inside. She sets his teeth on edge right now, and when he says teeth he means _fangs_. The last encounter with his fangs didn't end well for her.

The bed shakes which tears him away from his musings as a weight falls right down onto his hips. _Hips_. His eyes shoot open just to see Caroline straddling him with a ominous frown on her forehead. Is this girl mad? He's so astonished he freezes, not able to move under her (partially because he would get a massive hard-on if he started to squirm between her thighs right now).

"Answers. Now." She pokes him in the ribs—wait a minute she does WHAT?—obviously content with the state of shock she's put him in. This stupefied astonishment, however, doesn't last long. A guttural growl escapes Klaus' throat as he forcefully grabs Caroline's wrists and pulls her down, flipping her onto her back and landing on top of her. _Who's uncomfortable now, Miss Stubborn?_

Caroline gulps. (Not that having him on top of her feels bad, because—holy cookies!—it makes her temperature rise at an alarming rate.) She holds her breath when he fixes his angry blue eyes on hers. Her heart starts beating faster and faster as fear embraces her.

"You were saying?" He cocks an eyebrow at her with a victorious smirk playing on his lips. You just can't trick a devil like that, little girl.

Mustering all her courage that is left, she grits her teeth and hisses, "I saved Kol. You owe me." (Is it getting hot in this room or is it just her hormones?)

No matter how much he wants to shut her up with his lips claiming hers, he knows he can't. Caroline is scared and confused like a new kid in kindergarten. And Klaus doesn't make it easier for her. With a frustrated groan he releases her and gets off the bed, clasping his hands behind his neck and stretching his back. Caroline sits up, letting out a relieved breath.

"What do you want to know?" Klaus stands with his back to her, looking through the window.

"Your story. I know something awful happened. It's not the rotten state of humanity that makes you want to destroy the world. And it's not only about taking Kol back. I'm not stupid, Klaus, I know you can kill him now and take him home. You wait for his birthday because Apocalypse is important to you. Why?"

He turns his head and looks at her with his mouth open. That clumsy angel, a girl that barely a day ago was still a virgin, now reveals a completely different face of hers. A face of a fighter playing her cards right. Determined like a solider, bent on pressing until it hurts. _You owe me._

Klaus chews on the inner side of his lip. Damn you, Caroline.

"Fine. But we'll do it my way."

(\o/)

They are back in his room after quickly popping off to get more alcohol. Yes, a big bad wolf needs to be at least slightly inebriated to spill any of his secrets. They get some whiskey, rum, martini, and wine. (Of course it's been Caroline who couldn't make up her mind.)

When they get comfortable on the opposite sides of his bed (it's much comfy than hers, and she can't understand why _he, _a cold-hearted bastard, got the better room) Caroline looks at him expectantly. She probably has no idea that it's the very low neckline of her tank top that distracts him and delays his confession.

Klaus takes a swig straight from the bottle.

"Ask away. I'm not good at storytelling." _Once upon a time there was a very thin and tempting tanktop waiting for a knight in shining armour to take it off and free two boo__—_

"Why Apocalypse?" She just feels like a combination of a good cop and a bad cop during an interrogation.

"The one who starts it overthrows the current ruler of Hell. Changes the order. Becomes the king."

"Why would you want to seize power? Your father rules Hell after all. You're like, I don't know, Prince William version 2.0."

Klaus rolls his eyes. "That son of a bitch you call my father confined my sister to Hell, she's being kept there like a prisoner." The last words sound incredibly bitter in his mouth.

"Why?"

He really doesn't want to tell her this story, it hurts too much. But if it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't have this opportunity now.

"Rebekah fell in love with Stefan, who was playing on your team at that time. Stefan the angel fell for her, literally and metaphorically, but father wasn't, let's say, favourably inclined towards that relationship. He imprisoned Rebekah, much to my mother's dismay, to keep her away from Stefan."

"And what did he do?"

"He fled to Earth and became Stefan the Ripper." Seeing Caroline's confusion, he explains, "Fangs, blood thirst, anger, darkness. Fallen angels and devils look very much alike. Except they suffer from guilty conscience after a kill while we fortunately do not." Klaus smirks proudly receiving a disgusted glare from the blonde.

"He should have tried to fight for her!" Caroline's indignant tone make Klaus snort. Of course, in those sappy-soppy movies she watches over and over again everyone fights for love, and so love conquers all. But it happens only in Hollywood and love stories written for teenagers—real life kicks your ass without even blinking.

"Do you really think Rebekah would feel better knowing that the whole army of Hell torn Stefan apart limb from limb?" He counters. Her taut expression is enough for an answer. Caroline stays silent for a moment as she decides to open a bottle of red wine and doesn't bother to get herself a glass. She takes a few deep gulps, her lips getting red as she does so. Klaus follows her lead, swallowing another swig of whiskey.

"What about your siblings? Are they going to help you?"

"They don't know. I'm doing it alone."

She's confused again. His actions do this to her, or maybe it's his whole personality that is killing her: the more he unravels, the more mysterious he gets. Klaus the Riddle makes Caroline's head ache.

"Elijah would never dare commit patricide. He may be a devil, but he's a honourable one. He respects Mikael's decisions, he lives by a code. Sometimes it drives me crazy." He puts a bottle to his lips again.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Caroline sees why Elena broke her rules for Elijah. That prude would never convince her that her affair was just about desperate measures.

"But then, why would you do that?" She cocks her head.

"After Mikael imprisoned Rebekah, he also learned that his own wife had cheated on him years ago. He went mad, hounded my mother out of Hell, and killed her lover. Elijah may feel bound to him by blood ties, but guess who happens to be a bastard son?" He throws her a meaningful look.

Caroline jaw drops and she freezes with the bottle right in front of her mouth.

(\o/)

She's whispering, _Kol_.

"Go away." He covers his head with a pillow.

_Kol_.

"GO AWAY!"

_Help me._

"I can't!"

_Please help me._

"For fuck's sake, I can't!" Kol yells desperately trying to wake up. It's a dream, he knows it's just a dream. He's wandering in the woods at night, trees whispering malicious things to his ear, and there's a girl that needs his help—Rebekah, she needs his help, but he can't find her. Branches creak under his feet as he spins around, disorientated. He's lost. Lost in the ominous, thick blanket of fog, lost among those trees that have sinister faces, alone and helpless. The feeling of helplessness makes it hard for him to breathe. In fact he's suffocating.

_Brother._

He clutches at his head, gritting his teeth. "I CAN'T! I'm so sorry, I can't—"

_Girl you know I'm hooked on you, and this is what I'll do, I wanna sex you up!_

—and he sits up in his bed gasping, covered with sweat, but relieved to be awake. It's his phone ringing.

"Meredith." He picks up, trying to control his heavy breathing.

"Hi, I—Um, I just want to know if you're okay."

"Yeah." Kol scratches the back of his head. "Never been better." Damn, he's panting to the phone like a creep. Meredith must have noticed that.

"Am I... interrupting something?"

"What? No! No, you don't, it's just a..." He's fishing for an excuse, but nothing comes to mind.

"Bad dream again?" She sighs. Kol caves in.

"Yes."

(\o/)

"So it's really—" She hiccups, "—about your family." Red wine went to her head a little. Or even a bit more than that. She's rocking to and fro with her eyes closed and a dreamy expression on her face. Klaus just stares at her, amused. She's _glowing_ thanks to sweet oblivion the bottle of red wine has brought her.

"But I still envy your sister."

"Do you?" Klaus sneers.

"She fell in love. She actually knows how it feels." Caroline tilts her head to the side, her eyes still shut. She's in her own world now.

"Rebekah also knows how it feels to be a prisoner in her own home, waiting for someone to stop that monster. He made all of us miserable. I doubt you would trade lives with her, sweetheart."

This wakes Caroline up, she looks at Klaus with her glazed blue eyes, examining his features. Once again he's that bitter, grim self she hates so much. He desperately wants his family together again even if he has to destroy the world and his so-called father. His reasons are now more understandable, that's true, but it doesn't make anything easier for her. Quite the contrary, Caroline is now caught between the devil and the deep blue sea. Literally. Oh shut up, puns are cool.

"You rebuff everything I say like love is a weakness. It's not." She argues, not sure whether she's already feeling offended or plain tipsy.

"It's the greatest weakness a devil can have. And we are not weak. We do not love, we do not care."

"Your siblings' cases say otherwise." Caroline hits him with the best shot she has. "Rebekah. Elijah. It's just you—you keep lying to yourself."

"I don't say we're incapable of love, Caroline." Klaus rolls his eyes, angry at himself that he let her draw him into this stupid argument. "I just say it's not worth it."

The blonde gulps down the rest of wine from the bottle and licks her lips with determination, like a wolf ready to attack. Okay, a dizzy wolf staggering towards its unimpressed prey.

"That why you just keep scoring with women, simply ticking them off your 'to-do' list? Because you're afraid of pain?" Not for the first time a lightheaded Caroline is a very straightforward Caroline.

Klaus' face hardens, and any traces of bitterness or remorse disappear. His eyes remain now cold and expressionless, like two stones.

"You're making assumptions."

"And you were feeding me crap about giving me a choice while the only thing you wanted was to tick me off your list!" Caroline throws the bottle on the bed and clambers out of the bed. It's hard when you see two beds instead of one because everything is dancing in front of your eyes and your head is spinning, but she's more angry than drunk, so she even manages to stay on her feet.

He sees it clearly now. She's angry at him for that night, giving vent to her frustration by baking (burning) cookies and avoiding him, snubbing him, cold-shouldering his devilish self!

"Ah, so this is personal after all." Klaus hisses. "All this talk about family and stuff, you did it to get even, to make me feel bad."

"Make you _feel?_ Good joke, Klaus, but I'm not going to fall for the same old trick again." Still feeling high (on wine) and mighty, Caroline turns on her heel ready to march out of his room with her head high.

"You're a coward!" is her parting shot. She boldly puffs her chest and turns away, taking a brisk, vigorous step forward—

BANG!

—and loudly collides with the door frame, then falls to the floor lifelessly like a rag doll.

"And you're unconscious, love."

(\o/)

"So, I thought we could, you know, maybe, go out sometime." Kol grins goofily to the wall as his grip on the phone tightens.

"You mean a date?" Meredith's voice gets wary. Kol panics.

"DATE? No, no, not a date, never!" He stutters, "Dates are overrated. No more dates ever!" God, isn't it awkward. "I just mean, like, hanging out with my friends. You told me about stress at work, and I haven't been sleeping well lately. Maybe both of us should unwind a bit." He hopes, he really hopes it sounds innocent like an invitation to a teenage school dance.

"Sure." She sounds a little more optimistic. Kol lets out a relieved breath.

"I'll call you back when I know the details, okay?"

"Take care, Kol." Meredith says softly.

"Thanks."

He hangs up and buries his head in both hands. Isn't he an idiot. Damn you Dr Fell and your sweet smile.

(\o/)

She's lying on a bed with cold compress pressed against her forehead. The whole world is dancing around her, a really crazy ballet that makes her stomach churn. Oh boy, she didn't know wine would have that effect on her.

''You know what they say,'' Klaus approaches her with a mocking smirk on his lips, ''_in vino veritas_.''

''Sorry grandpa, but I'm not billion years old like you to speak Latin.'' She mumbles tilting her head back. Cold compress is her saviour. Klaus crosses his arms and looks down at the blonde sprawled on his bed.

''It means _in wine there is truth_.''

''I can only feel—'' Caroline burps. ''Fermented grapes and a headache.''

He watches her attentively. She pissed him off, she made his blood boil. For a second he wanted to hit her with a baseball bat. Okay, not really. He could strangle her, but in the end he'd probably give up and just... Never mind. There's a conflict of interests and loyalties between them. He does have to tick her off the list for good. He must do it. That's final.

Klaus sits down next to her, and when she opens one eye to glance at him, he gives her a grave look.

''I get it, okay?'' Caroline whines with the compress still on her head. ''You want your father dead and your sister free. He didn't love you so you assume no one else will either.'' She clears her throat and adds quietly, ''Now please, leave me alone.''

''I can't.'' He shrugs and spreads his hands.

''Listen—''

''It's _my_ room.''

''Oh. Right.''

How can you describe silence? Awkward? Not enough. Embarrassing? Come on, they are past things like embarrassment. Tense? Strained? Maybe. Heavy like a sword falling right onto your neck after a prolonged period of suffering in a dungeon? Yes. Ask Anne Boleyn.

Klaus takes a deep breath. ''I know you want love and romance Caroline, I don't blame you for that, this is who you are. I can't give you that—''

''Do NOT flatter yourself!'' She bridles at him. What a nerve! What a big head you have, mister! ''I would NEVER—''

''—but I still think you're amazing.'' It renders her speechless, just for a moment though.

Although her head is killing her, she's not getting sidetracked. If she was that amazing like he claims her to be, he wouldn't just tick her off the list like any other girl. She is yet another girl on his list.

''What about Stefan not getting too friendly with me? What about _choosing_ _sides_?'' Seeing Klaus' surprised expression Caroline raises an eyebrow in a challenging gesture. ''Don't think that simply because I was shocked I didn't catch that.''

Klaus groans. Not now, not this. All this time he should have told her, but he didn't because he was afraid. He didn't want to picture the future without that annoying blonde piece of feather, but he was too proud to own it. He'll get over it eventually, he's not weak. Still...

''This world serves as a gate. A portal between Heaven and Hell. If you want to go from one to another, you have to pass through Earth. When it ends, there's no gate any more.''

Caroline's eyes widen. She never thought about it. If there's no gate, there's no passing either.

''Those who like Stefan belong to both Heaven and Hell will have to choose sides, because when the world ends, Heaven and Hell will be separated forever.''

''You mean...''

''You will never see my ugly face of a coward again, love.'' He fakes a chuckle, although he's pretty sure Caroline doesn't find it funny either.

(\o/)

Caroline leaves his room without saying anything. It's too much to take for her and her aching head. Of course he ticked her off the list—they will never see each other again. Why should he keep her? And most importantly, why should she want to be kept? What a ridiculous idea! He did what he did, he was her first and made her feel on top of the world, but there is nothing that she couldn't get over like Elena did. She can do better than that! She can do better than him! A moment of weakness won't ruin her... _Caroliness_.

Caroline puts on a pink fluffy bathrobe and knots it tightly, then she stomps out of the bathroom and marches across the living room where Klaus is lying on the couch, his feet resting on the small coffee table, and he's watching a zombie movie. The blonde rolls her eyes. Seriously, _zombies again?_ Just grow up and watch the Notebook like any normal person would.

She almost escapes him. Almost, because Kol pops out of his room and tells her to wait. Klaus expectantly raises his eyebrows at his brother.

''You.'' Kol turns to Klaus, his face indicating an early stage of progressing madness.''We're going on a date.''

Caroline snorts. ''Good luck with that.''

''Kol, in case you haven't noticed, I am not—''

''Not together! Ew! Gross!'' Kol grimaces. ''I mean, not together-together. We're going on a double date. You're taking Caroline, I'm taking Meredith.''

Caroline giggle resounds in the room. ''Good luck wi—A DOUBLE DATE?!'' Her giggle turns into a terrified shriek. ''You must be kidding me! I'm not going anywhere with him!''

''Yes you are.'' Kol's unyielding.

''But _I_ am surely not going anywhere, mate.'' Klaus snaps and turns up the volume so he can hear the zombies growling.

''Do I have to remind you the last night when you two—''

Caroline and Klaus groan simultaneously.

''Okay! Stop! We're—''

''—going!

...

..

.

..

...

**A/N**: Exactly one year ago my beloved grandma died, and today has been a really hard day for me. If this chapter sucks, then you know why, but I just had to get on with this and move forward with the story.

.

Anyway, thank you for reading my lovelies. See you on a double date!


	12. the injured lover's hell

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**the injured lover's hell**_

**...**

(\o/)

_Nor jealousy_

_Was understood, the injured lover's hell._

—_John Milton, Paradise Lost_

(\o/)

Klaus wakes up early in the morning and trudges to the kitchen to make some coffee. If you think he has a guilty conscience and therefore can't sleep, you're wrong. He sleeps like a baby. It's just waking up that he doesn't like.

With his hair messy and eyes half-shut he passes through the living room lazily scratching his stomach, yawning, murmuring something about caffeine addiction, he glances at Caroline sitting on the couch and fervently typing something on Kol's laptop, then disappears in the kitchen.

WAIT.

Caroline doing WHAT?

It takes him two seconds to rewind the tape and pop back to the living room. She doesn't even notice him nestled down on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, with five pieces of evidence of a committed crime-five empty cups of coffee-left on the table. She looks hypnotized, staring at the screen, dark circles under her eyes indicating a sleepless night. The blonde is still typing like a robot.

"Caroline?" Klaus frowns.

Typing.

"Ca-ro-line."

Still typing.

"CAROLINE!" He bellows at her making her jump in her seat.

"What?" The vacant look on her face tells him she's still operating on autopilot mode. That's why she doesn't notice he hasn't shaved, like, for days, and that he' still scratching his stomach lifting the T-shirt up.

"What are you doing?" He shakes his head trying to cope with a new situation with Caroline being a zombie.

"I'm sailing."

"You're what?"

"Sailing the Internet."

"You mean _surfing_."

"I mean go away." Caroline sets her eyes back on the screen, then she giggles like a teenager. And she blushes. _Blushes_.

"You were up all night, weren't you?" Klaus takes a few wary steps forward, but she's ignoring him again. "Caroline!"

"What?!" She glowers at him like he just ate a bunny before her very eyes. Before she can react, he snatches the device from her lap and looks at her browser. His lips form a tight, straight line as his eyes flare with anger.

"Match com? Really?"

"I always wanted to be a cupid!" She reaches for the computer but he backs away, leaving her tangled in the blanket. While she struggles to free herself from the folds, he reads aloud.

"Damon Salvatore."

"Give it back!" Caroline demands, standing on the couch in her pink pajamas, her hair looking like a bird's nest.

Klaus doesn't give up. "You were flirting with him all night?"

"So what?" She pouts.

"On the Internet?" _Unbelievable_, he thinks. _Freaking unbelievable._

"It's called _chatting_, you know. In case you haven't noticed, we live in the 21st century." Caroline snaps huffily at him. "FYI_—_it means for your information_—_he's my smoking hot date tonight." The last part punches Klaus right in the face. He stares at her with his eyes wide and his mouth open. HE is her date tonight, has she gone mad or is she still in denial?

"It seems like you didn't do the math, Caroline." He mutters, holding back his rising anger. "Five people mean there's one too much for a double date."

"I spoke with Kol. I threatened to delete his porn folder and he begged me not to. We settled for a triple date." She announces innocently, but holy cookies how she enjoys that. _In your face, Klaus_.

"And you're going with Damon the cyber-gigolo?" Klaus snorts.

"Just so you know, he's very sensitive and charming."

"Let me guess, his favourite movie is the Notebook, and he likes Taylor Swift."

"How do you know?"

"I'd write the same damn thing on my profile if I wanted to seduce all the naive girls on this planet."

"Fortunately, I'm too smart to be seduced by you." She gives him the fakest smile in the world, then takes Kol's laptop and heads to her room. A hand falls on her shoulder stopping her from moving, and she turns to face the devil and his cocky smirk. (He can smirk all he wants, Caroline knows he's peeved.)

"Let me refresh your memory, love_—_I did it just two nights ago."

"Oh wait, you call that one-nighter _seducing me_?" The blonde derides him. "Just to be clear, you might have been the first, but certainly you won't be the last."

She saunters off to her room, and before she closes the door she sends him a jeering grin, "Good luck with finding a date for tonight."

(\o/)

Caroline, with her hair in curlers and a moisturising mask on her face_—_

(Kol sees her once and pretends to have a heart attack, shouting "Call Perseus! Medusa is here!" then gets hit with a shoe)

—spends the whole day looking for a dating tips on various websites. Finally she's able to create a compilation of rules she should be adhering to.

_Look gorgeous. _She's opting for a nice pair of red heels, and very tight jeans.

_Do not revel too much about yourself._ Sure, she'll be enigmatic like the Bermuda triangle.

_Always keep the guy waiting._ Well, if she happens to turn up earlier she'll hide in the bushes. He'll wait till bugs eat her.

_Never talk about previous boyfriends._ Like she's ever had one! The only guy that she shouldn't be talking about will be right there with them.

_Never ever come across as too available or too desperate._ Just because she slept with a spawn of Satan himself, it doesn't mean she's available or desperate. (Does it?)

_Create the need in him for you._ She will! That's what push-up bras are for.

_And last but not least: Be yourself. _Right. Because it worked so damn well the last time she was with a man...

(\o/)

All three of them agree to meet at 8 pm and go bowling. Kol leaves earlier to pick up Meredith. Caroline and Klaus are waiting for their dates in front of the bowling alley. Klaus is looking in every direction that does not involve her. The angel looks stunning in her outfit and he just can't stop gazing at her as she walks swaying her hips.

Damon Salvatore turns out to be even a bigger jerk than Klaus thought. When he swaggers to Caroline and gallantly kisses her hand before handing her a single red rose, Klaus just want to puke rainbow. When Damon's hand wraps around Caroline's waist as he eye-fucks her for what seems like forever, Klaus' fists clench, ready to strike. Caroline giggles and smiles, and obviously enjoys being adored. She knows it's all just an act, but she wants that act. She wants a man to win her, not claim her.

Damon fixes his predatory blue eyes on her, then puts his lips against her ear and whispers, "You are so beautiful you must be an angel." She flushes and smiles at him coyly.

When she told Klaus she's going with Damon, he wanted to punch the wall and throw the laptop through the window. But then he decided to use one asset Caroline didn't know. And this asset has just arrived.

"Rose!" He grins.

"Long time no see, you devil." A pair of bright green eyes seems to be glistening in the dark. With clicking of the heels, a woman emerges from the shadows. A brunette with short hair and a piercing stare. Caroline can't take her eyes off her. Rose, as Klaus calls her, is emanating something alluring and... supernatural. She walks up to Klaus and pats him on the shoulder. They just smile at each other like there is something only the two of them know. Caroline grits her teeth and turns away, then catches Damon staring hungrily at her.

"W-what?" She stutters.

"Nothing, Blondie." He smirks. "Let's go inside, we'll wait for your other flatmate at a bar."

(\o/)

They sit by a table, Caroline with Damon, and Klaus with Rose. The angel pouts from time to time, but Damon buys her off with cookies and makes her pouty face go away.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Damon asks, while Caroline sighs with relief, she's too proud to ask them herself yet she's just dying to know. Who is that... Rose? And why do they keep smiling at each other the way Caroline doesn't like at all? Did he sleep with her? Does she love him? Oh no, and what if he loves her? And why does Caroline care for goodness sake!

"We're old friends." Rose smiles at Damon.

"Very old friends." Klaus smirks and snatches a cookie from Caroline's plate. She retaliates with a killer glare and Klaus theatrically clutches at his chest in response.

"Yeah, so old you probably joke in Latin." Caroline munches on her cookie. Damon gives her a weird look, so she shrugs, "Never mind."

"And how did _you_ _two_ meet?" Rose asks Damon making Klaus burst with laughter. He almost chokes on his food.

"Yes, Caroline, please, do tell us."

Caroline bites her lip. Of course they will make fun of her and Damon. Online dating is for desperate losers, every one knows it.

"In a way, we spent all night together, didn't we, Caroline?" Damon winks at her, and she tilts her head, amused.

"Yeah, in fact we did."

"Chatting all night, it was the best night in my life, and believe me, I had many good ones." Damon's mocking, sinister gaze is directed right at Klaus. The devil's upper lip curls with anger—you _peasant _you—but he doesn't say anything.

"I must say she's amazing." Damon wraps an arm around Caroline and pulls her closer. "I can't believe you're single, Blondie, but we'll fix it." A cunning grin spreads on his face.

Klaus squints his eyes at him, but before he can stand up and stab Damon in the eye with a plastic spoon, Kol's voice resounds in the air. Caroline turns her head to face the latecomers.

"Sorry for being late." Kol stands with his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans, still being visibly nervous around Meredith.

"I had to see one more patient and it_—_DAMON?" Meredith gasps.

"Meredith Fell!" Damon's eyes lighten up then narrow at her. "You never said you had a younger brother."

"I'm not her brother." Kol chimes in, but Damon ignores him and continues.

"Congratulations. You're doing well after Rick dumped you."

"I'm sure you and vodka helped him forget." Dr Fell snaps as she crosses her arms.

Kol's stare travels from Meredith to Damon and back to Meredith, then he frowns at Caroline, _What the fuck_? She shakes her head, _I had no idea_!

"Let bygones be bygones, Mer." Damon gulps down the rest of his beer. "Let's go bowling!"

(\o/)

"I'm going home." Meredith tells Kol while Caroline cheers on Damon as he knocks down all ten pins. Damon Salvatore turns out to be her ex-boyfriend's toxic friend, and her day has been too tiring to add Damon to that equation. She was blaming Damon for her and Rick's split-up, but when she met Kol she understood that it wasn't about Damon. It was about her and how Rick used to put everything else above Meredith's interest.

"Are you sure?" Kol looks at her pleadingly. Damn it, of all people in the whole world Caroline must have picked Damon for a date!

"I wanted to unwind like you told me to. But this... He's not anyone's friend, Kol. Damon is a leech." As she puts on her jacket, Caroline leaves the others and comes to Dr Fell with an apologetic look on her face.

"I really didn't know_—_"

"It's okay, Caroline." Meredith smiles understandingly. "Just don't trust him. He's not a good guy."

"Listen, I'll walk you home. Night's warm, we can get some fresh air." Kol offers. To his utter surprise, she agrees. He expected her to refuse, so he would have to insist, but for the first time she's not harsh on him. Quite the contrary, she lets him hold her hand as they head towards the exit. When Kol looks back, Caroline smiles encouragingly and gives him two thumbs up. He smiles back and opens the door for his date. Caroline sighs, at least Kol still has a chance to spend a nice evening. She still feels responsible for him, it's probably never going to end. She saved him, she cared for him then and so she does now.

Caroline is on her way back to join the game when she stops dead in her tracks. Damon and Rose are making out on the leather seats by their table. At first she can't believe it. But the way Damon's hands move up and grab Rose's breasts can't be mistaken for a friendly massage. Or the movement of his lips can't be deemed a first aid kiss. He's all over her, looking at her with hazy eyes while she tilts her head back and smiles lazily.

"Don't blame the guy, _Blondie_." Caroline hears Klaus mocking her behind her back. She spins around and glares at his amused face. "It's impossible for humans to resist her." He explains, still having fun. "She touches him and he's lost." Klaus pokes Caroline on the shoulder to prove his point, but she just grimaces.

"What is she?"

"A succubus." He grins smugly. Caroline's jaw drops.

"You brought a succubus to my date?!" She can't believe her ears. "How could you!" It's like he sandbagged her. She's just been hit in the face with bad fish, then stabbed in the back, then kicked in the guts, and then stabbed once more. Caroline can feel her blood rushing through her veins, her heart beating faster, her ears getting red. If she was a kettle, she would be letting steam out through her ears.

"Technically, it was _our_ da_—_"

Caroline stamps her foot in anger. "Oh shut up! Don't you dare give me excuses now!"

Klaus raises his eyebrows. He has seen her in various moods, from happily drunk to extremely sad, but this is the first time she's soberly furious and... hurt. Truth be told Klaus didn't think she would be that upset about Damon and Rose hooking up. He's just a guy she met via a dating site after all. His intentions were anything but good. He listed the Notebook as his favourite movie for goodness sake! Only the scum of the earth do that to lure innocent girls into a trap. (A smart move for a human, Klaus has to admit.)

"Take it easy, sweetheart." He tries to appease her with a charming smile, but she's not buying it. "No need to vent your frustration on me."

"You jerk." The angel hisses, shaking her head. "You did it on purpose." There's no words to describe her disappointment. Yes, he did disappoint her. But he's a devil after all, a vicious creature, how could she even think he wouldn't try to spite her? She's a fool.

"You just had to make my day miserable, didn't you?" Caroline's voice is bitter and trembling. Klaus opens his mouth to argue, but she hushes him. "You are feeling miserable, so everyone has to be too. Well done, Klaus, you can be proud."

She successfully wipes the smirk off his face. "Caroline, I didn't_—_"

"Yes, you did. And you enjoyed it so much." Her eyes water. "First you try to seduce me treating me like a work of art, then you snub me, then you say I'm amazing, but you can't give me what I want."

Klaus' jaw tightens. It wasn't supposed to go this way.

"Yet when I decide to actually live my life and be happy for the last two weeks on Earth you do everything_—__everything_ you can!_—_to ruin it! I just wanted to feel special and adored, even if only for one day." Her face is so cold and pale it looks like an ice block.

"I despise you, you... wretched hell-hound." She wishes she had enough mental strength to slap him across the cheek. She would hit him, and then bang her fists against his chest until her couldn't breathe. Damn you Klaus, you bloody idiot!

Klaus stands there dumbstruck and speechless, and watches her leave. She is right. He did it on purpose. He did it to spite her. He felt absolutely satisfied when her heart sank at the sight of Damon dumping her for Rose.

He enjoys her misery, because she can't be his.

(\o/)

''So, yeah, sorry for tonight.'' Kol fiddles with his fingers as they stand in front of Meredith's apartment. They've been walking in circles because the night air is incredibly refreshing, and the conversation flows like a river. He tells her about his mother who died before he moved to LA, and how he keeps having those weird dreams about a family he never had. He makes her laugh when he announces that he'll rule the world one day. He's so sure about it she actually shares his enthusiasm. Meredith tells him a story from her childhood, when she wanted a dog, but she got a younger sister instead. She was so angry at her parents that when her sister started to crawl on all fours Meredith took her for a walk keeping the kid on a lead like a dog. It feels so good to laugh with Kol. So natural.

''To hell with Damon. I had a lot of fun tonight anyway.'' She gives him a warm, keen smile.

''Good night then.'' He smiles back and shrugs, taking a step backwards. Then two hands pull him forward once more, and before he knows what hit him, Meredith's lips crash into his.

(\o/)

She ends up on the rooftop of the building they live in. Los Angeles looks incredible by night. Even more so if you're standing on top of a building in a total silence, the only noise you hear is the wind. The sky is cloudless and peppered with stars, like someone scattered sugar on a black fluffy carpet. They are twinkling as if they want to cheer Caroline up.

She wipes a single tear that rolls down her cheek. Maybe she overreacted. Maybe she just should keep her personal life away from Klaus' spying eye. Personal life, Caroline snorts, that's a good one! She isn't even supposed to have a personal life. Even if she wins over Klaus_—_and she better does_—_what life awaits her if not just an eternity somewhere over the rainbow. Eternity with Elena and her terrible singing. Eternity with Bonnie bossing Caroline around.

Eternity without Kol's fooling around and Klaus' snarky comments.

She'll be alone like Van Gogh's ear.

There is no win-win for her.

While the warm summer air caresses her cheeks she hears footsteps behind her. Was someone following her? Then she takes a deep breath and knows it's Klaus. Only that son of a gun smells like spiced wine and ginger.

''Caroline.'' He chokes out, but she still stays with her back to him, propped on her elbows resting on the low brick wall, not particularly eager to see his face. You can't blame her, can you?

''Are you serious?'' She shakes her head, and all he sees is her blonde curls bouncing. ''Take a hint.''

''Don't be angry, love. We had a little spat. I'm over it already.'' Klaus jokes like it's the most natural thing on Earth. Caroline's eyes bulge. He really is a bloody, clueless idiot. Sometimes she does see the common idiot-gene he and his brother share.

''But I'm not.'' Caroline snorts, her eyes fixed on a skyscraper on the other side of the city. She feels he's getting closer and closer, bur she refuses to turn around and look him in the eyes. No, he does not deserve her attention. He can follow her and haunt her like a ghost for all she cares. (In fact a mental image of Klaus wearing a white sheet and going trick-or-treating with a basket makes her giggle inwardly.)

He's right behind her when she grumbles, ''You, your lovey-dovey names, and your romantic drawings can leave me _alone_.''

With his face tense and unreadable, Klaus grabs her by the shoulders making her instantly freeze. His deep blue eyes bore into hers, and if Damon's eye-fuck was sexy, then this one makes her ovaries explode. Boom, you're dead. Her heart skips a beat.

''I'm sorry, sweetheart,'' he purrs in a low voice that sends shivers down her spine, ''I wish I could.''

Gathering the last crumbs of her courage, Caroline takes a deep breath and mumbles, ''Well, at least we agree on tha_—_'' but her air supply gets cut off when Klaus growls something that sounds like _just_ _shut up love_, and presses his lips onto hers with such force Caroline's knees go totally weak right on the spot. His arms wrap around her, one hand dives into her hair while the other lands on the small of her back, pushing her closer, her body moulding into his. When Caroline opens her eyes she sees his are still closed as his kiss lingers on her lips. He kisses her again and again, each time making it shorter but more passionate before he can't control it any more and lets his hand travel to the bottom of her top and sneak under it. So much pent up anger and frustration in both of them make it impossible to hold back. Klaus' lips travel down her neck, sucking and nibbling at it, while his hands hold firmly onto her hips and butt.

''You're such an idiot sometimes.'' She pants as she tugs on his T-shirt and rolls it up his back. He does the same to her, and the garments end up discarded on the ground.

''Aren't we a pair.'' He smirks against her collarbone as he fumbles with the zipper of her jeans. The way her nails scratch at his bare back drives him crazy. And so does her red underwear_—_when he thinks it could be Damon right now seeing her half-naked, tearing the clothes off her and touching her exactly when Klaus' hands are, a wave of possessiveness takes over him. He kicks his jeans off and lays Caroline on the ground. The roof is still warm from all the sunshine it accumulated during the day, and when Caroline opens her eyes and looks up, she sees the limitless black firmament falling down right onto her, making her head spin, a black hole consuming her. The night sky, millions of stars, and planets_—_the eternal wanderers watch as Caroline's bare thighs welcome Klaus as he moves inside of her, ravishing her while still caressing her face with kisses and whispers. Caroline's eyes flutter and get hazy, but before she closes them to lose herself in ecstasy she sees Ursa Major, the only constellation that never sinks in the Ocean, that never gives up. She won't either.

Caroline moans when his hand kneads her breast. Klaus' tongue glides over her neck, and he breathes to her ear, ''Come with me.'' Surprised, she turns her head so she can face him, but can't speak as his mouth claims her in an ardent kiss. Shivering under him, distracted by his deep thrusts, Caroline manages to whimper, ''What?'' Her back grinds against the coarse concrete ground.

''Let me take you with me_—_'' He huffs, out of breath, hovering above her, ''to Hell.'' Caroline doesn't say anything, just gasps and moans his name. She doesn't want to spoil this moment by telling him she could never do that. There's nothing more terrifying for her than fangs and never ending blood lust. She could never become a monster and stay in Hell among them. She couldn't live like that.

Klaus' fingers intertwine with hers as he stretches her hands above her head, pinning her to the ground, getting close to the release. A few seconds later they both tremble and then freeze, gasping, fighting for breath. They breathe deeply, feeling the fever slowly subside.

(\o/)

There are in no hurry lying on the rooftop, naked and sated, watching a falling star travel across the sky.

''You should make a wish.'' He says, pressing his lips against her temple.

''I already did.'' Caroline closes her eyes blissfully. She did make one, against her better judgement and all hopes.

After a while they decide to get back home, fortunately having it just a few floors beneath. When they sit up on the ground, Caroline looks around and slaps her hand onto her forehead.

''Holy cookies!''

''What's wrong?'' Klaus frowns at her, confused.

''Klaus. Our clothes.'' Or rather their absence. Caroline's eyes widens in horror. ''The wind... it swept them away.''

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: Okay, this bitch of a chapter is over 4000 words long. Damn it. Sorry, it just happened.

**Thank you all for your words of support, it meant a lot to me. You guys are the best. **

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(Honestly I hate writing sex scenes, but at the same time I can't imagine characters only holding hands and staring at each other. So, you know, there's a lot of other stuff going on in this chapter that you can focus on. Don't beat me.)


	13. darkness once gazed upon

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**darkness once gazed upon**_

_**...**_

(\o/)

_Innocence, once lost, can never be regained. Darkness, once gazed upon, can never be lost._

—_John Milton_

(\o/)

Fortunately, Klaus' phone slipped out of the pocket of his jeans when he was running a sex fever. This is the only thing that can save them now. This, and Kol.

In case you have any doubts, the way back to their apartment was incredibly awkward. Well, at least not for aesthetic reasons. Caroline gets a nice, detailed look at his butt while Klaus keeps sending furtive glances at her breasts. Both like Adam and Eve, abandoning the concrete garden of the rooftop. But there's the problem of their neighbors who aren't really used to naked people strolling around the hallways or dwelling in the elevator. Enough said, that old lady living downstairs looks at the three of them suspiciously every time their paths cross.

(Klaus seem to hate old ladies in general, but when asked why, he just shrugs and says, "an accident from the past.")

When they get from the rooftop to the last floor, Caroline pushes the button and waits for the elevator. Klaus argues that there's definitely bigger risk of meeting somebody in the elevator than while going down the stairs, but she rolls her eyes, _people don't wander around the building in the middle of the night._

Her confidence drops, however, when the door closes and she's trapped in a cramped space with a naked devil. His hand creeps down her spine and stops on the curve of her waist. With one swift move he pulls her closer, and whispers to her ear,

"You were right, love. It was a good idea."

The wall is cold and Caroline cringes when Klaus pins her to it. He doesn't mind; in fact he's quite pleased by how her skin looks when covered in goosebumps. He smiles at how her breasts react. Caroline seems hesitant, but then her eyes meet his, and they aren't scared, or full of lust, or teasing. A warm but faint, almost imperceptible smile playing on her lips tells him she _cares_.

Yes, she's definitely something. Not only because she's beautiful. He had many beautiful women, real bombshells, but they couldn't do the only thing he needed: understand him. They weren't thinking about him as a person. Klaus, a drop-dead gorgeous man with a wild stare and no moral code whatsoever was always every woman's dream, but all saw in him was their own reflection. When a man like him takes any woman to bed, she's delighted. Not because she may be falling in love with him. She's delighted because it adds fuel to the fire of her own vanity. Klaus didn't mind. Why would he? He never cared about those women and so he didn't give a damn about their motives.

Yet there she is. Caroline, light to his darkness; so selfless she risks her life to save Kol, she doesn't care about vanity or reputation either. It was not her pride that got satisfied when he kissed the hell out of her on that rooftop. She didn't think about herself when he took her under the dark night sky. He felt her emotional pain slowly giving way to pure happiness, and it was quite an experience. She was radiant, glowing, totally out of this world.

She has always been like that. It's just he didn't see it at first, blindly following his evil plan. She's exactly his opposite, an angel that drives him mad with her self-righteousness and goody-goody attitude, but at the same time she makes his steps lighter and his heartbeat faster.

He slams his hand on the button board, the elevator shakes like it's an earthquake of magnitude 9.5. Caroline holds onto Klaus (forgetting that they are pretty much naked), and to her utter horror they get jammed between the floors.

"What_—_" She gasps, but Klaus' body presses onto hers keeping her pinned to the wall. Oh, right. That cunning devil. It's not earthquake, it's him that makes Caroline shudder. Oh dear. OH DEAR.

He nuzzles against her neck, his head burrowed in the tangled mess that is her hair.

"So, what about my offer?" He purrs against the crook of her neck, and she tilts her head to a side giving up to the pleasure as his hot breath caresses her milky white skin. Caroline trembles.

He's so alluring.

So dark.

"Listen," she gasps as he nibbles at her neck, "you can't," oh my_—_her eyes flutter, "ask me this," his teeth graze against her skin, "when we're stuck in an elevator, _naked_."

She can feel his lips twist in a smirk, "I asked you before."

"When we were, again, _naked_. Not the best moment to make decisions." She points out pushing onto his chest, and he finally withdraws with a frustrated huff. He hits the button again, and they start going down.

"We both know it's not the problem. You're just dodging the question, sweetheart."

(\o/)

They sit down by the door, and Klaus dials Kol's number. He waits for a few seconds, but there's no answer. That bastard, Klaus thinks, rolling in a bed with some chick while they're waiting like two sheepdogs.

Minutes pass as they both remain silent, deep in their own thoughts.

Again, the perfect moment was ruined by his ill-timed question. Okay, it's not about the wrong timing, it's about the wrong question. Or, Caroline muses, it's about the wrong guy. The bad guy. Everything she got caught up in is wrong. If he told her, let's stay on Earth together, she wouldn't even hesitate. She would stay with him, she would let him show her the world he knows so much about, she would take a chance. But Hell? It scares her to the bone, it fills her heart with unimaginable terror. When Klaus bit her the other night, in the very few seconds when she was losing her consciousness she saw_—she felt—_Hell. It was just a moment, no longer than a flick of a switch, but she remembers_—_not images, just the feeling. It was spine-chilling, hair-raising darkness that lurked in the shadows, creeping like a snake in the grass. Dreadfully silent till it gets you. Would she ever be able to fight it? They could, surely, because they are devils, but the darkness they inhabit feeds on light she carries within. If this is how things look like in Hell, if it's not the fire and bloodcurdling moans of the damned but just the destructive flame that eats you away, then Caroline doesn't want it. If anything ever was to consume her, she would choose love, not darkness.

The ring of Klaus' phone wakes Caroline from her daze.

"Kol. I'm glad you decided to finally ply us with a call." His words reek of anger and venom.

"Spare me courtesies and just tell me what's going on." Kol sounds equally irritated.

"You have to get home as fast as you can."

"And why is that?"

"We're naked."

Kol takes a sharp, deep breath. "I told you I'm NOT interested in a threesome! You two freaks_—_"

"Are you retarded?! We lost our clothes, you idiot!" Klaus yells at the innocent phone like it was all its fault.

"Oh."

"Exactly: OH. Get your ass here." Beep. His grip almost crushes the device. Caroline looks at Klaus who's sitting and breathing heavily, fuming with rage.

"Have you ever thought about going to anger management classes?" She quips. He answers her with a glower so menacing she gulps and raises both hands.

"Just saying."

(\o/)

"What did you say about threesomes?" Meredith laughs lying on her left side with her head propped up on her hand.

"Nothing. My flatmates are just batshit crazy, that's all." He grins at her. She looks gorgeous with these white sheets against her tanned skin.

"But I have to go."

"So soon?" Meredith pouts suggestively.

"Something happened to them, and no matter how much I would love to just lie here staring at your naked self, I think I need to save their naked asses." His hand travels down her neck, then to her collar bone, and stops at the edge of the quilt.

"See you tomorrow?" He winks at her, and she smiles seductively.

"Don't be late."

(\o/)

Even if you spend the night with a hot guy, being naked finally becomes a bit tiresome, especially when it gets cold outside and the building is terribly drafty.

"What are you going to tell him?" The angel hugs her arms.

"The truth."

Caroline grimaces. "Can't you just tell him we got robbed, or something?"

"Why should I?" He sounds so indifferent. Caroline grits her teeth.

"Because he really doesn't have to be informed every time we have sex."

This makes Klaus cheer up as he laughs heartily at her. "Such a dirty word in the mouth of a lady! Shame on you, Caroline!" He mocks her.

"My, my! When, pray tell, did you grow morals?" Caroline sticks her tongue at him.

"Maybe the moment I took your chastity belt off." Klaus grins, his eyes hungrily roaming over her body.

She just rubs her shoulders, suddenly feeling exposed and defenseless. This is how he confuses her over and over again. He can be charming and even caring (in his own way), but then his horns get back in place and the devil in him takes over. The worst thing is, she likes it, against her better judgment she likes him. To add a cherry on the top of this messed up cake, she even cares for him. When he told her the heartbreaking story of his divided family, she felt sorry for him. If only she could help him without destroying the world. But if she has to choose between heart and duty, she will choose duty. Hell would feed on her till she got dark and indifferent, and all she has left is her tender heart.

They hear footsteps coming from the other end of the hallway. It's Kol who gets more and more terrified as he approaches his flatmates. They are really without a stitch on.

"Holy shit." He hisses. "What happened?"

"We_—_" Klaus starts, but Caroline cuts in,

"_—_got robbed! They threatened to kill us!"

Kol gives them both an incredulous look. "Yeah, like hell they did. I'm sure you two were shagging in a dark alley and some crook just nicked your clothes."

Caroline huffs indignantly as Klaus sends her a look saying, _See? Told ya._ Kol unlocks the door with his key, and nods at them to get in. Klaus shamelessly gets up not caring about shining his naked butt right in Kol's face, but Caroline turns her head away so it doesn't look like she's staring at his gorgeous form. Because she isn't, okay? They look at her as she remains on the floor with her hands embracing her knees.

"What? Turn around, you perverts!"

Kol rolls his eyes, but turns around without a word, while Klaus tries to be smart. "Love, I've seen you_—_"

"TURN AROUND!"

(\o/)

Klaus leaves in the evening after taking a quick shower and a nap, he neither eats anything nor talks to Caroline. As much as she hates to admit it, she's saddened by his surreptitious disappearance. Not that she has a right to ask him where he's going, she can't demand an explanation every time he goes out, but somehow she feels left alone. It's his devil side speaking again, Caroline knows it, but her angelic one can't help but worry.

So she's stuck with a bag of cookies and Jersey Shore, whatever this is. Kol locks himself up in his room and talks on the phone. All Caroline can hear is, _no, you first,_ chuckles, _no, I'm not hanging up first. No! You! _Two weeks before the world ends Kol finally finds a girlfriend that doesn't chase him away with a stick. How lovely, she sighs.

After an hour Kol plops himself down on the couch next to Caroline.

''If you keep eating so much, you'll get fat and Klaus will break up with you.'' He grins like it's a joke of the year.

''We're not together. And fat means cookies which means happy me.'' She sulks. Kol examines her face as she chomps on her cookies. He took Caroline for an emotional type, the one that believes in love at first sight and all that crap. But lately she's acting weird, and so is Klaus.

''So, you are just friends with benefits.'' He tries again, inwardly swearing to God that these two will be the death of him.

''More or less.'' She shrugs as her hand fishes for another cookie. _Enemies with benefits. _

Any attempt to strike up a conversation with Caroline results futile. Like she's in a stupor, just staring at the screen not really paying attention to the world while crunching and chewing. Anything Kol says to her just goes in one ear and out another.

''Let me guess,'' he muses, more to himself than to her, ''it's complicated.''

(\o/)

Stefan sits on a park bench and watches the sun setting behind the horizon of a concrete jungle. He likes this world. It's definitely more interesting than Heaven (damn, that singing used to drive him mad), and less dangerous than Hell. Maybe it had to be this way, the human world being created to strike a balance. People aren't good or bad, they are in the middle with all their virtues and vices, just like Earth. They have free will, they make choices_—_regrettable or not, but at least they are free to choose. When angels find enough strength to make a choice, it means they're not supposed to live in Heaven. Heaven is about obedience and peace, and you can't show disobedience and still have peace. It's a package deal.

"Brooding again, I see." Klaus sits next to Stefan and mirrors his position by crossing his arms and ankles.

"You said it's important, so let's cut to the chase."

The devil smirks. Stefan and his sulkiness. "Well then. I want to know which side will you choose."

"You know that in fact I have no choice. I would never go back to Heaven even if I could."

"Good. So, considering I'm doing you a favor by letting you reunite with my dear sister, I expect one in return." Klaus sounds so full of himself. Yes, he does have a leverage.

"I don't have a sister I could give you for Christmas." Stefan's gaze is fixed on the bright orange sun that's still peeking at them from behind the buildings like it's eavesdropping in great conspiracy.

"I mean a favor."

"Why can't I learn from other people's mistakes?" The fallen angel shakes his head. "They say, never make deals with a devil."

Klaus spreads his hands, victoriously grinning at Stefan. "What can I tell you my friend, you sold your soul long time ago. What I need is your help when Apocalypse begins."

Stefan raises his eyebrows urging Klaus to elaborate on the subject.

"As you know I'll be a bit busy then. I need you to take Caroline down with you." He sees a surprise mixed with dread painted on Stefan's face as his eye twitches.

"Down as in to Hell? If you're asking me to do this, it means she doesn't want to. Am I right?"

The devil purses his lips. He knows she doesn't want to, but not because of him, she's just afraid. And whatever she's afraid of, Klaus won't let it happen. She's a strong one; she'll come around, _eventually_.

"You'll change her life forever, Klaus. Do you think you can play with her as long as you fancy, and then just leave her alone and bitter? She's not a toy."

Klaus rolls his eyes at Stefan, a goody two shoes fallen angel with guilty conscience. "You have no right to tell me what I should or shouldn't do. I will not throw her away like a toy."

"Thousand years of life experience say otherwise." Stefan snorts, frowning at his companion. "Unless you're in love, but I doubt it."

Klaus' face twist in a grimace. "I don't believe in love, Stefan. But I do believe in... need."

"You'll ruin her."

"I _need_ her."

"And you, being your selfish possessive self, don't give a damn about what _she_ needs." Stefan notices Klaus' fists clench and unclench angrily. His tense face means he already made up his mind. Stefan won't be able to save Caroline, and even if he could, Klaus would get his revenge and keep him and Rebekah separated forever. Too much is at stake to risk it.

Stefan gives up. "Alright. I'll take care of her."

"That's the wing man I need, no pun intended." Klaus grins and pats Stefan on the shoulder. "Now, let's grab something to eat, I'm starving. That lady over there looks tasty."

(\o/)

It's well past midnight when Caroline stirs in her bed, unaware of two deep blue eyes observing her. Klaus sits down as lightly as he can on the edge of Caroline's bed, still staring at her sleeping form. There's an empty cookie bag on her night table, and Klaus smirks as he takes it into his hands and crumples it into a ball. He knows she loves being on Earth, but it's either this world or his family. She got caught in the middle of this chaos, and he's not letting her go.

"You can't eat your cookie and still have it, Caroline." He whispers, then silently leaves the room.

When he's gone, Caroline opens her eyes, wraps herself up tighter in a duvet, and hugs her pillow.

"I know."

...

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: **Uno:** It's kind of a filler chapter but, as you just saw, with some important stuff.

**Dos:** Thank you for your fantastic response to my new story _Null and Void_ – you guys rock! ;) but don't worry, we still have some PFTL to live through.

**Tres:** Reviews and comments are more than appreciated, but you know it. ;) I love to read them. They truly inspire me when I suffer from a writer's block.

**Cuatro:** Find me on tumblr at **liarfaker** :)See you soon!


	14. low thoughts that please the ear

**WARNING: **high level of klaroline fluff.

* * *

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**low thoughts that please the ear **_

**...**

(\o/)

_His thoughts were low,_

_To vice industrious but to nobler deeds_

_Timorous and slothful. Yet he pleased the ear_

_And with persuasive accent thus began._

—_John Milton, Paradise Lost_

(\o/)

"Phallocentric." Caroline muses as she stretches on the backseat of Klaus' SUV. "It means everything revolves around your pen—''

"Caroline!" Klaus' grip on the steering wheel gets so tight his knuckles go white. Kol rolls his eyes.

"Let her read. It's better than listening to Nicki Minaj anyway."

Caroline just snorts at him like an offended cat. "You traitor! I saw you lip-syncing to Starships!"

"I wasn't!"

"Yes you were!"

"Silence!" Klaus finally growls and tries to keep his eyes on the road again. It's a lot of driving to get to Mystic Falls, Virginia. With Kol as a backup driver they can get there within three days. Three days there, two days to handle the house and legacy stuff, and then three days to go back.

A trip to keep a devilish eye on Kol, and angelic eye on Klaus. Her eye and her book, because Caroline obviously decided to get a self-made degree two weeks before the end of the world, driving her flatmates crazy at the same time.

Six days in the car listening to Caroline's lectures. The brothers are thrilled. Oh joy.

It just happened. She just found a book—Kol still thinks this book was doing a better job as a paperweight—one of Kol's one night stands left in his apartment long time ago. A thick, heavy book on some theories involving literature, psychology, and society, more or less. (It was the first and the last time he slept with a pseudo-intellectual hipster college girl. Nevermore, as Edgar Allan Poe would say.)

When Kol got a call from a real estate agent from Virginia, at first he declined. It's his family heritage, he said. It's his life, he reasoned. It's the only tie left that binds him to that town, he sighs.

The truth is, Kol is afraid to go home. It's the first trip to Mystic Falls since his mother died. His adoptive mother, but still the only person that he had to hold on to as a kid, even if she was just a substitute.

He's afraid to see his past, that godforsaken town, that dullsville that brought him up. With its weird witchy-vampy history this town could have become a major tourist attraction in Virginia, but oddly enough nobody tried to take care of it. People just lived there like it was the hub of the universe, with its small shops and suspiciously secretive town council, and with girls whose biggest dream was to win the Miss Mystic Falls pageant.

Kol is afraid, but he's also tired of his past, and so he decides to just leave it all behind and sell his memories to a stranger.

(\o/)

Towns pass by, buildings pass by, forests pass by like it is the world that's moving around them, not the other way round. The horizon welcomes the sun and puts it to rest as they drive, and Caroline keeps reading. Various ideas fill her mind, sometimes so powerful she feels dizzy from the infoglut. She argues aloud with Freud that she doesn't feel mutilated or incomplete just because she lacks a certain body part that men use instead of their brain (Klaus and Kol are on the point of throwing her out of the car).

They pass though yet another shabby town, they buy coffee, they carry on. They listen to the radio (Kol is helpless this time. "I'm not listening to Nicki Minaj aga-STARSHIPS ARE MEANT TO FLY!"), or they play 20 questions. Kol is more than eager to play truth or dare, but Caroline doesn't trust his imagination. When it comes to dare, you can't trust anyone, especially a devil's spawn. Genetics, you know. (Remember the famous Applegate scandal? No one in Heaven even dares to touch an apple since that unfortunate day.)

Kol isn't a bad driver, and as he takes over the steering wheel, Klaus hops on the backseat to join Caroline. He desperately needs to take a nap, so she lets him lie down and put his head on her lap. It feels incredibly intimate when she stops reading and starts absently stroking his head.

It feels odd, like having a beast peacefully rest down on your knees.

It feels good to feel his warmth and steady breathing.

It feels—holy cookies, he's drooling!

(\o/)

Time seems to go its own way, or maybe Caroline just lost the track of it since sleeping, eating and reading are all she's been doing. When they enter Kol's hometown (a sign says, _Welcome to Mystic Falls, hospitality is in our blood_) Caroline wakes up from her beauty sleep. Klaus seems as tired as Kol, and for a moment she feels guilty she couldn't help them with driving. Of course Klaus uses it against her, grinning meaningfully at her and saying, "You can make up for it later, love." She just gives him a poke in the ribs.

Things are a bit tense between them—not awkward, but Caroline can sense that a lot remains unsaid. When Kol gets a hotel room for himself and another one for both Caroline and Klaus, she thinks it's the best moment to clear the air. Klaus puts their small duffel bags on the floor, and then sprawls himself on the bed, happy to finally have some rest. His back hurts from sitting in the driver's seat and from sleeping on the backseat (although he doesn't mind Caroline's lap, not at all). His head hurts from the constant focus he had to maintain while driving, and he would kill for a bag of blood, no pun intended.

The blonde sits down on the edge of their double bed, and keeps staring at him till he opens his eyes and groans.

"What's wrong?"

She musters a faint smile. "I need to tell you something. It's important."

Great, Klaus snorts inwardly, being exhausted and aching all over is not the best state to handle _important_ _somethings_. He sits up to face her, and raises his eyebrows expectantly.

"I'm all ears."

Caroline clears her throat and takes a deep breath. "I can't go with you." She blurts out with her eyes closed. She doesn't want to see his face when he hears that. She's too afraid it would break her heart.

It stings, yes, it hurts a bit, but doesn't surprise him—in fact he has hatched a perfect plan to lull her into a false sense of security. So he smiles at her understandingly, and waits. After a moment she opens one eye and tentatively peeks at him. He's far from looking furious or even irritated. Well, he seems rather placid.

"I know." He says.

That's it. _I know_. No _whys_ or _buts_ or angry growls. Just a warm smile and _I know_. He knows.

Caroline bites her lip and is about to get up when his hands pull her down, and she lands on the bed next to him. His upper body hovers above her as their noses almost touch, and he smells like spices. Ginger. Cinnamon. Clove. It fills her lungs and clouds her mind. She drags on it, her eyes flutter. "You can't go with me, but it doesn't mean we can't enjoy what we have here and now." He purrs, his voice soft and oh-so-convincing. "Let's make good memories so you can remember me forever."

Still dazed, Caroline smiles dreamily with her eyes half-closed. "Why are you so sure I won't forget you one day?"

His breath skims over the skin of her neck. "Because I will never forget _you_."

It makes her eyes fly open like she's been given an electric shock. Caroline doesn't think twice, her lips just crash into his as her hand travels to the nape of his neck pulling him down onto her. For the first time she's the one who kisses passionately, like there's no tomorrow, stealing his breath, making him gasp. She will never forget him, this is her curse. Even without his declaration, she could never forget him. He gave her so much, showed even more, he opened her eyes to so many matters. He's right, that son of a gun, he's right. They should make the most of these two weeks that separate them from the inevitable.

It won't make things easier in the end, but it will make thinks easier now.

(\o/)

Kol meets Jenna Sommers, his real estate agent. She's also a part-time journalist and a history fanatic. Before they get down to business the strawberry blonde know-it-all tells him about the legends of Mystic Falls, witches and vampires, and how his house belonged once to a witch.

It's all very cool, Kol thinks, but he doesn't have much time for fairy tales. He just wants to take any valuable thing that remains in the house, then sell the building and forget about this place like he never owned it.

He finds some personal stuff, everything sorted and well-hidden in carved wooden boxes. Almost like his mother knew she was going to die. Old photos of Kol riding a bike, Kol reciting a poem during a school jubilee, Kol and his favourite baseball bat, Kol and his dog. And there's even Kol's first milk tooth saved in a small plastic bag. No friends of Kol, because little Kol was a loner. Teenage Kol was a loner, too. Nothing really changed since then.

A gorgeous slender woman with a shock of dark chocolate curls falling down on her shoulders comes into the office.

Jenna smiles. "This is Miss Katherine Pierce. She's my client and a buyer for your house."

Kol and Katherine shake their hands without a word and sit down by an old, mahogany table. She's not a local, Kol would know her or at least remember her last name. A stranger who wants to buy a house in the middle of nowhere. That's a turn-up for the books.

His curiosity gets the better of him. "Why do you want a house here? It's Mystic Falls. Nothing ever happens here."

With a cunning smirk and mysterious look in her eyes, Katherine crosses her legs. It seems like she's perfected that little move that makes every one in the room gaze at her with their mouth open.

"Let's say I like to stir things up a bit." She winks at Kol. "I'm sure I'll do this town a favor."

(\o/)

"A museum of witchcraft? Seriously?" Caroline laughs as they stare at the sign glittering proudly over the entrance. It seems like Klaus has a thing for museums. Maybe because he's so old he feels like an exhibit item too, she giggles. Of course he just snorts at her remark and takes her hand to drag her inside. She likes the feeling of his hand holding hers. There's something extremely teenage about it, but it's also exhilarating.

The museum was founded by the Gilbert family, the one that—according to a legend—hunted supernatural beings. The town used to be called the Salem of Virginia. Klaus tells her he remembers that times pretty well, witch hunt was one of his favourite pastimes back then. Of course nothing can be compared with the Spanish Inquisition, he adds, but American witches were fun, too. He laughed out loud while reading the _Malleus Maleficarum_, the famous handbook for witch hunters. It said lewd women were on the best way to become witches, because all witchcraft came from carnal lust, which in women was insatiable. And then they were introducing fair maidens to tempting young devils.

"Were they? Really?" Caroline's jaw drops.

"Of course not." Klaus grins wickedly. "Young girls then were no different than young girls nowadays. Hormone-driven, insecure teenagers. Easy prey."

Caroline frowns at the last part. Easy prey. Is everything to him just a kind of prey?

"But some of them stated in trials that they were seduced by a devil. So what, were they just crazy or possessed?"

"Well, I'm not the only devil in the world, but I did seduce some of them." Oh how smug his face is right now.

"And what about those that you didn't?"

"Caroline," he lets out a short laugh, "people didn't change much. At that time, as much as they do now, girls were secretly dreaming of a forbidden romance, something dangerous that can add variety to their dull lives. Men knew about that. Those who were smarter than the rest just put their bawdy ideas into action. A women's imagination is a powerful tool."

Caroline gapes at him, scandalized and speechless. How can he know all that? How can he be so amused by thousands of women that got burned at the stake because horny guys fooled them?

He just is, because that's people greatest weakness. Giving in to their own imagination, following fantasies while reason's telling them not to act too hastily. They are capable of pretty much everything while chasing a dream. Maybe it's also their greatest strength.

After seeing the exhibition, Caroline and Klaus head to the center of Mystic Falls, but instead of going the main road, they stroll through the woods.

"So, basically, women were deemed witches just because men considered them weaker and more... um, I don't know, carnal?" She still can't get over the fact that people were able to burn somebody at stake.

"Yes. But to their credit, they were also said to be able to steal penises." He playfully wiggles his eyebrows at her. She's so naive, so fun, so refreshing—

"See?" Caroline victoriously brandishes a finger at him. "This world is shamefully phallocentric!"

—and so annoyingly clever-clever sometimes.

He stops walking and grabs Caroline by the shoulder, pulling her towards him and wrapping his hands tightly around her. Instantly she melts in his arms as heat pools in her abdomen, her breathing quickens.

"Is brainy the new sexy now?" He mocks her.

"No. It's the new evil." She cocks an eyebrow at him, with a smirk playing on her lips, but soon her eyes grow wide and then go hazy as his wet, hot lips land on her neck, his teeth gently grazing against her skin. He grins against her collar bone as her hands mess with his hair. He never gets his fill of that little blonde angel that just came out of nowhere and made his world interesting again.

Klaus imagines how many things he will teach her when this whole earthly business comes to an end. Yes, it's something worth looking forward to, he thinks with delight.

(\o/)

"Kol?" He hears a familiar voice coming from behind his back as he sits down by the bar, slowly sipping his drink. No, it can't be her, he's hallucinating or maybe the bartender spiked his drink.

But it's her. And she hops on a high stool next to him.

"Anna." He gulps avoiding her gaze.

"Long time no see." She smiles at him and gestures at the bartender to pour her a glass of water.

"Yeah. Ages." Slurp. Keep calm and drink your whiskey, Kol tells himself. Slurp.

"What are you doing in Mystic Falls?" The girl keeps smiling at him like there were still friends. But they aren't.

"I've sold the house. I'm going back to LA."

There's a spark of interest in her eyes. Los Angeles. A big city every small town girl can only dream of. And Kol's living there.

"Really? And how's the City of Angels?" She licks her lips.

"Good." He shrugs, eyeing her tentatively. "And what are you doing here?"

She's supposed to be in New York with that jock of a boyfriend. The one she dumped Kol for. Kol winces at the memory of her face that day when she broke his heart so painfully he almost heard it crack.

"I still live here."

"You didn't go to college?" He tilts his head to a side. Looks like a lot of things changed since he left this wretched hole.

"No. Daniel left me after we graduated." Anna admits in a bitter, sad tone.

"Oh. That's... unfortunate."

"Yes." She lowers her eyes, only to fix her gaze on him a second later. Her dark, exotic eyes that he used to adore so much. "But on the other hand, it's very fortunate that we meet here, don't you think?"

Annabelle. Anna. He used to dream about her every night back in high school. As a cheeky loner he didn't have much friends, not to even mention a girlfriend, but then, by a strange twist of fate, he joined the Timberwolves and became the best player. Girls started to cast him more-than-friendly glances, and so did Anna. She was his first crush and first girlfriend, and she also broke his heart for the first and the last time.

Now she comes back like a ghost to haunt him, and no matter how strong he felt before, his knees still go weak when he looks at her. No matter how much he wants to escape the past, it's still after him, with all its ghosts clawing at his mind, messing with his head. He just gets another drink, listens to Anna's story not really hearing anything she says. He just stares at her, wondering about how he used to obsess over her.

She tells him she missed him. She was thinking about him often. She missed their crazy nights spent in that cabin by the lake. She says she would gladly go with him to Los Angeles—and this is what finally slaps him on the face and wakes him up from whatever fantasy he's been living in for the last hour.

(\o/)

A small old bookshop keeps Caroline occupied. She spends a few hours engrossed in reading. It's so interesting she forgets about cookies, and that says a lot. She forgets about the whole world. She loves the smell of old books so much she even buys some. _The Great Gatsby_ for Kol, because if he wants to become Someone in the future, he should know what mistakes to avoid. A collection of W.H. Auden's poems for Stefan, because she just knows that although he denies it, he's a crypto-poet. Yoga handbook for herself, because she wants to see what is that all fuss about. She also reaches for _The Picture of Dorian Gray_, because it's so Klaus. A lot of quotes from that book could be put into Klaus' mouth and sound like his own, even if they are harsh. Of course, she remembers, he met Oscar Wilde in person. Lucky bastard.

She reads,_ You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit._

She'll keep this one, too.

The last book she has to buy is for Klaus. Right, what for Klaus? It's the hardest choice. It always is when it comes to a person we care about so much. It must be a personal gift, something she wants him to have and remind him of her.

She can't find anything. Hours drag on, and she still can't find the right book. When her neck hurts from looking up around the shelves and she's about to give up, she sees _The Godfather_. A history of an uncompromising man who would do everything for his family.

"Vito Corleone was a man of principles, even as a gangster." Caroline hears a low, husky but at the same time alluring voice behind her. When she turns around, she sees a dark-haired woman around her age, a stunning one, and there's something familiar about her although Caroline can't really figure out what it is.

"However his son, Michael, was quite a tragic character." She adds.

"What do you mean?" Caroline shakes her head as her eyes dart from the stranger's dark curls to her hypnotizing brown eyes.

"Initially Michael Corleone was a good guy. But as a mafia boss he couldn't equal his father. And he became cruel and heartless, and the only woman he loved, Kay, grew to hate him. It's a sad story, that one, but you'll see that in a movie."

Caroline just stares at her, deep in her own thoughts, until the woman introduces herself.

"I'm Katherine. I'm new in town."

"Caroline." The angel extends her hand, then adds with an apologetic smile, "and I'm leaving soon."

"Really? What a pity. I hoped we could liven this town up." Katherine pouts, obviously disappointed that she won't get a partner in crime.

"I'm sorry." Caroline laughs. "And thanks. I think this is the book I was looking for."

(\o/)

Kol storms into Klaus' room without even knocking first. Klaus raises his head from above his sketchbook and grimaces.

"Have you heard about knocking?"

"Anna wants to go with me!" Kol ignores Klaus while pacing restlessly around the room. "I was crazy about that girl. Crazy! She screw up my head like nobody else! And now she says, oh Kol lets ride off to the sunset because that asshole left me and I don't want to stay in Mystic Falls forever!" He gags.

"Isn't she a darling." Klaus smirks.

"And I can't take her with me! I don't want to! I have a girlfriend, or at least a potential girlfriend, who likes me for who I am, not for what I can offer her." Poor Kol, he's freaking out.

"A girl you don't want is ready to go with you, while the girl I want tells me she can't go with me. What an irony." The devil snorts.

"But I still think of her, I can't forget—Wait, what? You mean Caroline?" Okay, now Kol's brain is on the edge of overheating.

"Long story."

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"What do you want Kol? Do you want to repeat your past mistake with that Anna girl?"

"No. I want to start over with Meredith."

"So stop obsessing over the past, just focus on what you want and go for it."

"Do you follow your own advice?" Kol gives him an incredulous look. Sometimes he just doesn't follow his flatmate's train of thoughts.

"You bet." Klaus smirks and looks down on the sketch he's about to finish. It's Caroline, with what looks like an antique bronze cup full of blood in her hands and Hell behind her back.

(\o/)

When Caroline gets back to the hotel, their room is blanketed in darkness with only a few small candles burning on the windowsill. At first she trebles with fear, because it seems a bit like an occult practice, but soon a pair of familiar arms greets her, and Klaus' breath runs down her neck,

"Good evening."

"It looks promising indeed." She giggles. "What are you planning?"

"Exactly what I told you earlier. We're making memories." She barely can see anything in the darkness, but she can swear he smiles to himself as he places a rectangular box with a satin ribbon in her hand. Surprised, she brings it closer to her face to be able to see it in the dim candle light, and gasps when her eyes meet a breathtaking bracelet encrusted with diamonds. She runs her fingers over the gift. It's an infinity bracelet, because this is what awaits her, infinity without him, she realizes.

As if reading her thoughts, Klaus runs his hand down her spine, stopping at the small of her back.

"Something that will remind you of me." He whispers.

"I have something for you as well." She chokes out, still overwhelmed with emotions, and reaches to the bag she dropped on the floor, then hands him a book.

"_The Godfather_." Klaus reads, smirking. He used to enjoy drinking with gangsters, Italian gangs being his favourite. "What else did you buy today, sweetheart?"

"Books for Kol and Stefan—don't give me that look, you know I still consider Stefan my friend!—and some books for myself, too." She grins. "One is about yoga. But not an ordinary yoga, it's a yoga for two! Can you imagine?" She gets the book from her bag and shows it to Klaus. "And look at these beautiful illustrations! We can practice together—HEY! Why are you laughing?" She pouts.

Klaus is almost rolling on the floor and cackling madly, spasmodically, clutching at his stomach. It lasts about five minutes till he can control himself again. Seeing Caroline's confused expression, he coughs clearing his throat.

"It's not a yoga guide for couples, love." He's holing back a laugh.

"What is it then?" Caroline huffs frowning.

"Caroline," he grins, "did you even bother actually _reading_ it?"

Caroline takes the book and opens it on the introduction page. "_For many people—especially in the Western world—Kamasutra is merely a collection of different love-making positions—_" She gasps, "Holy cookies!"

Klaus, amused and curious, observes her as she reads on with cheeks burning red, "_—a combination of acrobatics and _(she chokes on the word)_ pornography._ Oh my. _But for the Eastern mind, the true meaning of Kamasutra reaches beyond this purely physical interpretation. For them, sex—in all of its forms—is sacred._"

When she finishes reading her face is painted crimson.

"Don't worry, sweetheart," a wicked grin spreads on Klaus' face as he takes the book and waves it right in front of Caroline's nose, "I will gladly go through every single asana with you."

(\o/)

A woman's imagination is a powerful tool. All it takes to seduce her is to discover what she secretly yearns for, and then give it to her in small doses till she falls for it with her whole being. It's all wonderful and incredible and like a dream and—it's just an act, the same old trick.

The candles and romantic dinner—yes, Klaus does it for her, he wasn't born yesterday, he knows his job—and all those words he whispers to her ear (that's she's so wondrously full of light and beautiful, like a star) leave her mesmerized. It all sounds too easy, too convenient, but she stubbornly blocks these thoughts.

All she wants is to feel exceptional, she wants to be adored. And he adores her more than any man on this planet ever will. To him she's more than exceptional—she's _his_.

He wants his family together, and Caroline understands it, she really does, even if she never had one. He just doesn't want to be alone. Neither does she. The problem is, her happiness means his fall and vice versa. This is a tragic conflict, straight out of a Greek tragedy, and no matter what they think or assume, they're both wearing masks.

But before everything they have becomes an ancient ruin, before their paths diverge and never cross again, there's still some time left for them. A few moments they can have together. A couple of nights spent in one bed, a couple of days they will call good days. Days to remember. Moments to cherish.

When he places her on the bed, all she's wearing is the bracelet and a smile on her face. But even the smile disappears when his lips claim hers in an ardent, hungry kiss, like he wants to forget that the clock is ticking. (Because there's always risk that she won't forgive him, and it scares him, the big bad wolf, it scares him stiff.) Caroline just closes her eyes and wraps her legs around his waist, bringing him even closer, his body falling down and molding into hers. This is the only moment when she feels safe and sure—when he's so close there's not even an inch separating them, when she feels they are one.

Klaus is looking at her all the time, observing her, committing every feature of her face to memory—the way her lips spread in a blissful smile, the way she wrinkles her nose when his stubble tickles her neck, the way she looks at him from under her long lashes—because there are hard days ahead of them, and he wants to remember only her happy face.

She wants to wear his kisses on her skin forever. Those kisses that he's leaving right now down her neck and between her breasts. His lips are hungry as always, because that's what Klaus is, he's extreme, insatiable hunger. The hotel bed creaks and shakes under two supernatural bodies rocking together, their gasps and moans filling the room. His lips are all over her, Klaus' kisses meet his thrusts, and Caroline's hips grind against his body as she's melting like ice under his heat. He hears her whisper his name, and it's like a mantra to him, her voice muffled and quavering as she fights for air, hot and bothered.

His desire is like venom spreading in her pulsing veins, consuming her from the inside. Venom, _venenum_, the love potion Venus used to bring two people together, but eventually it became poison. He's a snake, darkness, temptation, and she's accepting his true face, for a forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest.

(\o/)

They lie in the bed, their breathing still uneven, ragged. Caroline's head rests atop his chest as she's listening to his heartbeat, drawing invisible circles on his skin where his heart is to steady its rhythm.

"Do you know the legend of Mystic Falls?" She muses remembering one she read in the book shop.

"There are many of them, sweetheart. Which one?"

"About a beautiful woman, a vampire, that fell in love with two brothers, and they loved her as well."

Klaus rolls his eyes. "Does the whole world revolve around love triangles?" Caroline ignores his remark and goes on,

"She loved both so much she couldn't make a choice, so she turned them into vampires so they could spend the eternity with her."

"Such a clever lady."

"But eventually they decided that family was more important than her, and their bond was stronger than love for a woman. And when they left her, she was overcome with despair. The legend says she's still traveling across the world to find them." She sighs, feeling sorry for an anonymous vampire that got caught in a perpetual triangle. Klaus' face hardens as he thinks about his family. He should leave Caroline like those brothers left their lover, but he can't. He's a devil, he always gets what he wants.

"People say it's impossible have everything." Caroline sighs and smiles slightly as his hand strokes her tangled curls. "Do you think it's bad to want two things at the same time and not be able to let go?" Because she's stuck in a triangle too, caught between her duty and her heart.

"Believe me, love, I'm the last person you should ask about this." He twirls a strand of her hair around his finger.

Caroline closes her eyes feeling drowsy after the intense day, hoping against all hope that the vampire finds her beloved brothers proving all people wrong.

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: **Okay, this chapter is super long, and while I don't feel comfortable writing such long chapters, this one has to be this way, and I put all my heart into it, so please tell me what you think. (Oh, and did you like the cameos?)**

.

And one more thing, holy mother of love triangles! The season premiere blew my mind. Thank you, TVD writers and Michael Trevino!


	15. I am falser than vows made in wine

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**I am falser than vows made in wine**_

...

(\o/)

_I pray you, do not fall in love with me, _

_for I am falser than vows made in wine._

_[William Shakespeare, As You Like It]_

(\o/)

With the car trunk full of junk from Kol's old house, they get to Los Angeles faster than Caroline expects. Maybe it's just because she sleeps all the time, or pretends to be asleep, thinking about what awaits them back home.

Home. She can't believe that three weeks were enough for her to call it home. And now it's only one week left. The looming spectre of Apocalypse seemed so far away when she got to Los Angeles to keep her eye on Kol so he could make it to his twenty-first birthday. Yet, because life always tends to put stumbling blocks in your way, it turned out to be harder than climbing Mount Everest with your hands covered with butter. Klaus, not as black as he's painted, with all his wicked charm, made her feel the contraction of a heart muscle Stefan told her about. To make things worse, every time she thinks about what she has to do, her heart breaks in half.

(\o/)

When Caroline tells him she wants to throw a birthday party for Kol, Klaus seems surprised, but soon he comes to a conclusion that having Kol right in the apartment instead of stalking him somewhere in a club or creeping in Meredith's wardrobe while his brother's having his last sexy moments on Earth isn't such a bad idea.

You're right, it's the end of the world, they should celebrate, he jokes, but all he gets is Caroline's sour smile. She's been like that since they left Mystic Falls. Every time the corners of her mouth go up, it's a half-hearted smile. Every time he kisses her, she responds absently. When they finally get back to Los Angeles, she just sighs and stares through the window at nothing in particular. When he comes to her bedroom in the middle of the night, she's gone. There's a sound of running water coming from the bathroom which means she's taking a shower again. It's the tenth or maybe eleventh time, Klaus lost count of how often she locks herself there.

It's going to be a tough week. For both of them.

(\o/)

"Caroline?" Meredith raises her eyebrows at the sight of Kol's friend in her office. It's her lunch break, and the Greek salad is waiting for her in a lunchbox.

"Hi. I need to talk to you. I hope you don't mind my coming here." Caroline looks tense. "It's about Kol."

Meredith frowns, confused and worried. "Is he still having those dreams?"

"What? I... wanted to talk about his birthday party." The angel shakes her head, equally confused now. "But wait, what dreams are you talking about?"

"He didn't tell you?" Dr. Fell blinks as if she couldn't believe it, and crosses her arms. Is she really the only one that knows about Kol's nightmares?

"Tell me what?" Caroline's heart starts beating faster. She can't believe there's something Kol managed to hide from her. You think you know somebody, you call him a friend, but then it turns out he's a complete stranger with secrets so dark they give you goosebumps.

Somehow Meredith feels Kol's not the only one that keeps secrets from people. There's something truly disturbing about Caroline─and Klaus for that matter. Caroline's unidentified blood type is still in question, and Klaus seemed too adamant to go with Kol to Mystic Falls.

"I'm not sure I should be telling you thi─"

"Please, Meredith, it can be the most important thing on the planet."

Meredith still seems hesitant, but the upset look on Caroline's face makes her cave in. If one of that strange duo cares about Kol's well-being, it's definitely Caroline.

"You know Kol doesn't have a family." Seeing Caroline nod, Meredith continues, "Still, he has those weird dreams about a girl calling him for help. He thinks she's his─"

"─sister." Caroline gasps, and her shocked stare meets Meredith's.

"How do you know it?"

"Did he mention a brother?"

"You mean Elijah?"

(\o/)

Caroline's hands tremble while she's holding the pink phone Elena gave her. She dashed out of the hospital like there was a fire in there, telling Meredith to keep their conversation secret. ("Especially from─" "Klaus?" "Yeah.")

It takes forever before Elena picks up. It still seems surreal to talk with an angel on the goddamn phone, but on the other hand, so does Apocalypse, and so do her feelings for Klaus.

"Elena! Finally!" She breathes out hearing her friend. "I need your help."

"I think I already know the answer, but let me ask for formality's sake, is everything okay?" Elena's voice just couldn't sound more anxious even if she tried. The tension is getting worse every day.

"You need to find Elijah." Caroline says firmly.

"What?! Caroline, I can't! I'll be dead the moment he sees me!"

"You have to tell him the truth." Maybe except that tiny bit about Caroline and Klaus indecently together.

"Are you crazy? How much did the end of the world mess up with your head? Or maybe it was Klaus that─"

"Elena! Just shut up and listen to me!"

Elena responds with sulky silence, the one an angry girl gives her mother for chastising her. You may think otherwise, but angels are quite touchy.

"It can be our last resort. You know where Elijah is, right?"

"I don't. There's a couple of places he liked most, but..." Elena sighs. She heard about all those places, because every time they got together, he kept telling her about them and promising to take her for a round-the-world cruise. And then she betrayed him in the worst way possible.

Such a romantic story to tell your grandchildren.

"Please. I know you can find him."

(\o/)

He's not in London, he can't be found in Paris either. Elena checks his apartment in Venice, also in vain. She remembers he liked La Fanice, a famous Italian opera house. Well, obviously Venice isn't Elijah's favourite destination during this part of the year.

It's not Elijah's wrath she's afraid of. Okay, not _only_. It's her own guilt she's afraid to face one more time─she knows she will see it in his eyes. She will see whatever she kept blocking all these years.

No one would understand back then. She was on a mission, and she hit the worst target ever. Elijah used to spend the most of the time on Earth, all classy and dignified, holding himself aloof, enjoying earthly trifles in his own peculiar way. Somewhere between the first look he cast her and the shy smile she gave him, Elena fell for the posh devil. She never told him the truth, prolonging the affair instead, counting on some kind of a miracle, before the fateful day came and she followed the voice of duty. She put the earthly interest first, because this is what angels are supposed to do─the right thing. Nobody cared if it sickened her to the core and broke her heart. Being selfless is the right thing. Now she has to be selfless again and do what Caroline asks her to do, even though her heart still aches the same way.

(\o/)

Klaus catches Caroline in the middle of a baking-spree with at least half of the flour bag scattered on her. Her hair is a mess (which is quite adorable but he would never use the word _adorable_, come on), her eyes seem puffy (no matter how hard she tried to cover it with that heavy make up), and she looks terribly tense staring at the oven like it holds some important answers. Unfortunately, the oven stays irritatingly silent. She groans at it, but it still doesn't look intimidated.

"We had a deal." He drawls behind her back which makes her gasp, jump and turn around, all at once.

"You scared me." She huffs.

"We had a _deal_." His tone is only a bit sharper, but it's enough for Caroline to feel shivers running down her spine. Seeing her overstressed and bothered, Klaus lets out a breath and his face softens. "We are supposed to enjoy our last days here. Make memories, remember?" Caroline just gulps and looks down on her flour-covered hands.

"I know." She chokes out.

"Since we got back from Mystic Falls you've been freaking out. I'm not blind. Why are you avoiding me?"

Caroline crosses her arms in front of her chest in her defense─

"I'm not."

─and it does sound really lame. When he takes a few steps forward and she instinctively backs away, it's like a big shiny signboard with the word LIAR hanging over her head. So not convincing. But she would never just switch to a carefree mode and enjoy the days they have left. On a scale of 1 to Cinderella's stepsister, how selfish would that be?

Klaus raises an inquiring eyebrow at her. Sometimes she feels he can see right through her. Hopefully, it's just an impression. Hopefully─for the world's sake.

"You're right." She puts on an apologetic look. "I'm ruining it."

"You're also letting your cookies burn as we speak." He winks at her. Caroline's eyes go wide and she spins around to see her cookies getting darker and darker, some of them already turned into a burnt, black dough.

"Oh no, not again!" She whines tearing out her hair. As if her messy state wasn't enough, a puff of black smoke hits her right in the face when she opens the oven. Now her hair looks like a bird's nest, and her dirty face resembles a coconut. And like a sensitive cook she is, Caroline collapses on the floor and bursts into tears. She keeps sobbing heart-rendingly, partially because she really wanted these cookies to be edible, and partially because Klaus seems to be totally cool with the idea of them separating soon while Caroline's heart breaks every time she thinks about it.

(Yes, as you see, the reasons for a girl to cry her heart out don't have to be related.)

"You know you can bake some more, right?" Klaus, suddenly feeling uneasy because of Caroline's weird outburst, shifts his weight from foot to foot. "It's not the end of─"

She just cries even harder, her sobbing turning into an ear-piercing squall. The noises (and an awful smell) draws Kol to the kitchen.

"What's going on?" He frowns seeing Caroline crying on the floor with Klaus awkwardly shuffling his feet.

"Her cookies got burnt again." Klaus mumbles. Carolie sniffs at the cookies and lets out another yowl.

"You cry like it's the end of the world." Kol rolls his eyes, but has to take a step back when Caroline jumps to her feet with a snarl and stomps past both of her flatmates. Passing by Kol, she scowls at him, her face and hands still stained. The blonde gives Kol an angry poke in the chest and hisses,

"I can't believe you just said that!" And then she locks herself in the bathroom.

"What's gotten into her?" Kol grimaces. Klaus just shrugs.

"She's been acting weird since we got back. Locking herself in the bathroom, avoiding me, being all cold, avoiding sex─"

Kol cuts him off with a gesture. "Okay, enough, I'm not your therapist! I don't want to know the gory details!"

They stand in the kitchen for a while staring at the burnt cookies, both thinking about possible solutions to Caroline's problem. Klaus has never had that kind of a girl drama to cope with before. Neither has Kol, being an only child without any girl friends around. What Kol had, however, was a high school experience which Klaus never knew.

"I think I know what it is." He whispers conspiratorially. Klaus leans forward waiting for Kol to share the secret.

"It must be her time of the month." He gives Klaus a grave look.

"What time of the month?" The devil shakes his head. He's never heard about any special time of the month.

"How can you not know?"

"Wait, you mean..."

_Dun, dun dun._

"Yes.'' He nods solemnly. ''PMS. Pre-monster syndrome. The one that makes them go rabid every month."

Whoa, Klaus thinks, occultism in Hell didn't really cover that kind of stuff. He heard about it, of course, but never bothered to further investigate the matter.

"You mean, like full moon and werewolves?" He tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Kol looks around to be sure no one's eavesdropping, and makes a serious face.

"Worse. They say nowadays women get so moody they can gut you like fish."

They both stare at each other gloomily. When the bathroom door handle moves, their heads instantly turn in that direction. Caroline emerges wearing only a towel, her face ominously scary with the make up smudged all over it. Both devils gape at her.

"Stop staring and throw the cookies away. I'm done with baking." She spits and marches to her room offended and furious.

Klaus mutters as he tries to process the data. Did she just tell him she's done with baking? It's almost like Albert Einstein told him he was done with physics.

"You're right. It's worse than werewolves."

(\o/)

Elijah's apartment near Broadway is the last place on Elena's list. A devil that loves musicals, who would have thought? The building is so tall Elena gets dizzy just from looking at it. If she remembers well, his place is up there on the last floor.

As far from Hell as he can get on Earth, Elijah always preferred the human world. He used to say he felt a tad... _dead_ in the Underworld. Elena used to laugh at his deadpan humour. They used to be happy together. Everything's just a past tense now.

The elevator rings and stops on the top floor. Elena's legs shake as she walks towards Elijah's door. It's her last chance, and no matter how much she wants him to help their case, she silently wishes he's not here. She's running out of time and starts thinking she's losing her mind, too.

Rising a fist in front of her, she's about to knock when the door opens and she lets a faint scream.

"Oh, I am sorry." A blonde woman in her mid forties says with a thick foreign accent and smiles nicely at Elena. "Are you here to see Mr. Elijah?"

Yes, Elena thinks with relief, he's here! Then she gulps, oh no, he's _here_. Not being able to decide how she feels about finding him, the angel just nods and tries to smile in the least creepy way she can.

"I can let you in." The woman offers. "He will be back soon."

"But..." Elena frowns. "You don't know me." Great job Elena, the woman is helping you to get into Elijah's apartment and you suggest she shouldn't. A role model, an exemplary behaviour. Burglars would have an amazing teacher in you.

"I know you, my dear." The lady smiles again like a kind old aunt. "You are the girl from the picture."

"What picture?"

"It is hanging in Mr. Elijah's bedroom."

"Are you sure?"

"I see it every day. Here, take it." The woman with an accent hands Elena the keys and leaves, carrying her cleaning supplies.

"Thank─" Elena calls after the stranger, but she disappears in the elevator. "─you."

Looks like she can wait inside. In the lion's den.

(\o/)

Caroline wraps herself in the bed covers and just lies down pretending to be a Mexican tortilla, her head being the only body part showing from under the fabric. She's angry at him. She's more than angry─she's hurt, feeling deceived. She already knows she'll be deeply affected by their separation while Klaus puts a brave face on it and acts like it doesn't concern him. Like he knows he will get over her eventually. That's right, he told her he would never forget her. Not a single word about having feelings for her.

That's the difference between interpretation and over-interpretation. Sometimes you learn it the harsh way.

When Klaus knocks at her door, she groans, "Nobody's home!" He gets in anyway making Caroline glower at him from her cocoon.

"Didn't you hear? Nobody's home."

"That's interesting, you know. My intuition tells me not to trust a voice coming from behind the door saying nobody's home. So much for your clever tricks, sweetheart."

The angel answers with a snort and keeps lying defiantly in her cocoon. Truth be told, she's kind of immobilized right now, with her hands stuck to her sides and her legs pressed tightly to each other. She feels like a blonde filling in a cloth-croissant.

Klaus sighs and tilts his head to a side, giving her an understanding look. "I know what's on your mind, I figured it out." _Kol figured it out. Whatever._

Caroline disbelievingly raises her eyebrows (mostly because her face is the only part of her that can make use of body language), "Oh really?"

"I know you may feel angry─"

"You bet I do."

"─but I can't help you, love." Like Kol said, all you can do is hide till the danger passes.

"Of course you can't." Of course he can't, Caroline's mind rages, that goddamn princess already tried on the crown of Hell and loved it!

"It will pass."

Caroline glares at him. "How do you know? You don't feel like I feel." She ventures hoping deep down her heart that maybe he does, maybe she's wrong.

Klaus admits, he has no idea how a hormonal thunder works. "You're right, I don't." Her heart sinks.

"But why don't you cut the drama? It's only a day or two."

"A day or two!" She bridles at him. "Seriously? I thought it's _eternity_, but maybe I'm a bit behind with Hell's agenda."

"What?" Klaus frowns at her. She is, indeed, acting like a loony.

"What?" Caroline gapes. "What are you talking about?"

"PMS." He shakes his head with irritation. "What are _you_ talking about?"

Caroline groans. "I'm talking about the Apocalypse and us going our separate ways, duh!" She rolls on the bed unwrapping herself from the covers, almost falling to the floor in the process.

"But..." He stares at her trying to grasp what's going on. "You were acting so weird..."

"Because I know I'll miss you!" Her eyes shine as they start to water. "And you tell me to simply enjoy our last days here and make memories! Maybe you don't feel like you're about to lose something precious, but I do. And I'm sorry, I can't _enjoy_ anything right now."

"Caroline, I─"

"Please. Just go."

Klaus wants to tell her it's not the end. He's not leaving her, he would never do this, but she can't know till the very last moment, otherwise she'd run away or try to talk him out of it. So he lowers his eyes and does her bidding, leaving her alone and bitter in her bedroom.

"PMS!" She hisses hitting her head with a pillow. "Seriously, Klaus?"

(\o/)

The apartment is huge like Elijah's ego. It's spotlessly clean like his hands. It's elegant like his suits. Every piece of furniture, every corner, even the view from the balcony, everything screams Elijah.

And it also makes Elena scream as she slips on the wet floor and lands on her butt with a loud thud.

(There's that famous question: how many angels can sit on the head of a pin? One look at Elena clumsily scrambling to her feet should be enough to tell you how silly this question really is.)

As if it wasn't enough, she freaks out at the grating of a key in the lock, and she clambers on all fours under the first thing on her way. It happens to be Elijah's four poster-bed. Well, at least it's big enough for her to hide under.

There's the sound of footsteps coming from the hall, and Elena gasps. Holding her breath, she's waiting for a pair of polished expensive shoes to appear. Her eyes focus on Elijah (or rather on his feet) pacing around the room while her ears follow the conversation he's having on the phone.

"No, one ticket is enough, I'm not taking anyone with me. Phantom of the Opera, yes. Thank you." Elena closes her eyes for a second, losing herself in his low, sensual voice once again. It's a true torture, not being able to see his face right now. It's been twenty-one years, Elena was counting.

The weight falling on the bed brings the angel back from her trip down memory lane. She realizes Elijah's siting on the bed. So close. One wrong move could expose her and he could crush her body easily with the bed base. She lets a sigh of relief feeling he's just relaxing. And exactly when she does it, she hears him snort.

"I know you're here. Can I just say that if you have anything less than honorable intentions, no matter who you are, I suggest you reconsider."

Elena's eyes widen in fear and she can't stop her hands from shaking. Her breath quickens, and so does her heartbeat, and that's enough for Elijah to pinpoint the place she's hiding. With a malicious smirk playing on his lips, he reaches under the bed faster than anyone could imagine and hauls the intruder out, then pins her to the nearest wall and

"Impossible."

─he gasps, with his hand still tightly clamped around Elena's neck. His astonishment doesn't last long, tough. He pulls himself together as his eyes narrow at her.

"How dare you come here."

Elena would love to know it, too. Gasping for air, she chokes out, "Listen, Kol─" Elijah's grip on her neck tightens even more.

"─was my brother who died because of you."

"He─didn't─die!" She fights for breath as her face goes pale. Before she can prepare herself for it, Elijah releases her and she comes into painful contact with the wooden floor. Still clutching at her chest, Elena finally breathes in, relieved.

"The only thing I learned through the centuries thinking about you, Elena, is that your words cannot be trusted." He hisses hovering above her, his eyes in silent rage. "So you have ten seconds. After that I'm ripping your heart out." It takes her three seconds to regain some courage and get the words out. Her voice is still a bit hoarse, but when Elijah says it's ten seconds, it really is just ten seconds. So she takes a deep breath, shuts her eyes and and splutters out, "Caroline saved him but now Klaus wants to kill him Apocalypse is coming please help us or Earth is gone forever Elijah please I'm telling the truth!"

She waits for the blow, but it never comes. When her eyes hesitantly open, he's still staring at her, his stare unreadable, his lips pressed into a tight line. To both of them it seems like forever, a moment frozen in time. An antique clock hanging on the wall is ticking, cutting time into chunks─every one of them loaded with questions and hurt feelings.

"Not a day passed by without you stuck in my head. Even time had no mercy for my betrayed heart." He says looking at the wall on his left. Elena's gaze follows his, and she gasps as her eyes fix on an enormous picture hanging on the wall. The cleaning lady was right. It's Elena's portrait.

''I put it here so I can always remember how the face of betrayal looks like.''

"I know you don't believe me, but I really..." She grits her teeth trying to put the words right, but Elijah shakes his head silencing her.

"Stop. I think we have more pressing matters to solve now." He extends his hand to her. "Give me your phone. I need to talk to that friend of yours. If this is some kind of a sick game, you're both dead."

He disappears in the other room leaving Elena sitting on the floor, her head spinning from emotional overload. He's so cold towards her it sends shivers down her spine. She remembers his gentle, caring self she fell in love with. Looks like it's long gone and forgotten, and Elena knows this irreparable damage is nothing but her fault.

(\o/)

After a good long while, with his face even more tense than before, Elijah strides back into his bedroom like a ferocious bull just seconds before charging.

"Los Angeles it is. Your friend and I have a _plan_." He mutters, loosening the Windsor knot on his tie. "That selfish excuse of a devil will be so sorry for interrupting my Broadway spree. Perhaps I shall finally teach him some manners."

…

..

.

..

...

**A/N**: **Just so you know, the next chapter is what you fear most: KOL'S BIRTHDAY. Dun dun dun! **

**Thank you for your patience, guys :) You are the best and the coolest, or even bettah and coolah! **

.

(you can take a chance with me on tumblr at _liarfaker – _I dare you_)_

_._

Oh, and one more thing concerning Katherine and other cameos: they are just cameos ;) I enjoy giving TVD characters their own mini-plots here and there, yet they're not involved in the main plot. I hope you enjoy them too.


	16. bring me my chariot of fire

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**bring me my chariot of fire**_

**...**

(\o/)

_Bring me my bow of burning gold_

_Bring me my arrows of desire_

_Bring me my spears o'clouds unfold_

_Bring me my chariot of fire_

[William Blake]

(\o/)

"Are we done?" Klaus mutters from behind a stack of groceries he's carrying, his vision blocked by the paper bags. The only thing he sees is a blonde head leading him into a dark abyss of the unknown.

(Well, it's just an elevator, but you never know.)

They've been shopping all day, too busy to even have some breakfast. It was supposed to be their last breakfast on Earth and Caroline simply shrugged, flung back her bouncy curls, and said she wasn't hungry. Just like that. And then she dragged him to a supermarket like he was some kind of a lousy husband you can boss around.

She's a tornado today, a real hurricane. Whatever is on her way, it gets swept by the blonde vortex. Remember Tasmanian Devil? Tasmanian Angel is more or less the same minus the fangs. She acts as though she owned the place, tyrannizing Klaus, his little (unaware of the perils awaiting him) brother, and all those who are involved in the organization of Kol's birthday party. Even Stefan got a very peremptory message about his part in it, even though he doesn't really know the birthday boy—apart from that one awkward moment they would like to forget when Kol yelled at him about a threesome leaving Stefan speechless and confused.

What the best event planner in the world doesn't know is that Stefan is invited nevertheless, because Klaus the party pooper also has this evening planned and he needs his wingman. For now he's putting up with Caroline's planning frenzy because the busier he gets, the faster this day passes, eventually bringing his moment of glory. Tension grows.

"We've just started!" She argues opening the door and marching into the kitchen. "And it's only food. What about balloons? And tiny hats? And other birthday-ish stuff?"

"And strippers!" Kol pops up out of nowhere with his mouth full of popcorn. "And booze!" Caroline's jaw drops as she stands there scandalized, menacingly narrowing her eyes at him.

The end of the world with strippers and booze? Seriously?

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse didn't hear about any strippers or booze. Neither have the Maya or the planets. Maybe the Vikings—you know, Loki the trickster—could understand Kol and imagine a bit of a party here and there. There's a terrible information chaos when it comes to the end of the world. Every tribe on this planet, every culture, every religion has its own script. Usually it involves planets bumping into other planets like cars stuck in a traffic jam in New York, but also environmental disasters, sun being switched off like a lamp, hellfire, and an extremely ugly beast roaming around the neighborhood. Only Egyptians were more creative with their tale of goddess Hathor who was supposed to wade in blood before god Ra got her drunk with beer dyed red to resemble blood, so she got drunk and didn't destroy the world. (That would be fun, actually. Just wait for a Hollywood box office success.)

Yet even the Maya—who loved any rituals consisting of a dagger and a heart, most preferably the former being stuck into the latter—didn't expect the youngest prince of Hell to appear on Earth out of nowhere. Nobody expected Kol to lead a normal life instead of wrecking havoc every place he went. Antichrists do not work in a bar! But here he is, Kol Mikaelson, a bartender, a normal guy that dates a doctor and watches the Penguins of Madagascar.

You can't even imagine how disappointed the forces of Evil would be if they knew.

(\o/)

He taught her, challenged her, promised her the world and the stars and even the moon. Thanks to him and his devilish ways she learned that the line between good and evil is blurry if not fluid.

He showed her that life was all about making choices. She is sure that most of her choices would be deemed mistakes by fellow angels up there, but she doggedly begs to differ.

While baking Kol's birthday cake and thinking about her plan, Caroline tries to come to terms with the fact that whatever choice she makes, she'll lose Klaus nevertheless.

(\o/)

Klaus has something to come to terms with, too. He lied to her, he was spoon-feeding her with sweet talk about making memories, saying goodbye and whatnot while plotting behind her back all the time.

He's sure that somewhere along the way she will forget about Heaven and its routine. How could anyone just order her to stand in a choir line when she was nothing but a star, radiating and effervescent. He will have her by his side, he will bask in her glow. He will kill two birds with one stone, claiming not only the right to rule Hell, but also Caroline as his.

To Klaus _want_ means _get_, and there's nothing that can stop him. Who says you can't have it all?

Klaus does not lose—neither wars nor people.

He does not _know_ how to lose.

Your enemies can defeat you, but only your loved ones can teach you how to lose.

(\o/)

Stefan spends a few good hours looking for the things Caroline told him to get. What the hell is a Twister game? How can you play that without collapsing on the other players?

"Well, the best way to play it is while drunk." A young redhead shop assistant winks at him.

Stefan frowns, but then everything becomes clear to him. A mischievous smile plays on his lips as he pays for the perfect birthday gift for Kol.

"I see what you did there." He leaves the shop and goes straight to a liquor store.

He resigns himself to going to Hell, and as selfish as it sounds, he decides it's better to take Caroline with him as Klaus ordered. Rebekah will need a friend, and Hell will be a bit more bearable with the angel in it. Besides, when the angels learn about all the things she's done and sins she's committed, they won't let her through the gates of Heaven anyway.

And with a firm resolution to make Caroline's stay in Hell less painful, Stefan strolls down the street till something heavy hits him in the back of his head and everything goes black.

He wakes up in a dimly lit hotel room, and when his eyes eventually adjust to semi-darkness he notices a shadow standing across the room. Stefan would never mistake the man for anyone else.

''Elijah.'' He gulps.

''Good evening, Stefan. Thank you for having the good sense to be frightened.''

(\o/)

Because of all this birthday commotion Klaus loses the track of time. It's already dark outside when he helps Caroline hang the balloons and other decorations. Fortunately, when the party starts it will be easy to wait till midnight. Every fiber in his body tenses as he thinks about what is to come. The moment he was dreaming of, the end of his problems, it's so close he can feel it. A new era is about to begin.

"Your phone." He hears Caroline's voice behind his back. "It was lying on the kitchen floor."

Klaus knits his eyebrows, trying to figure out how it was even possible, but then he gives up and just puts the device back in his pocket. Stefan should be here already, he muses, hearing Meredith giggle in Kol's room. She's the first guest, obviously because her gift for Kol is meant only for Kol's eyes.

"By the way, can you go and get some more ice? I'm afraid our stocks in the fridge won't be enough." When Klaus goes out, Caroline takes the clock off the wall and stares down at it. Stalling for time is the only thing that can save them now.

The guests keep coming. Even Tyler got invited, and he comes with a lovely brunette—something like Hannah or Hadley, Caroline can't remember—and his cousin Mason. Matt brings a petite blue-eyed girl named April and a friend Jeremy who seems oddly familiar to Caroline even though she can't remember why. Kol and Meredith emerge from his room, both with their cheeks flushed and hair ruffled. Kol also invited the fellow bartenders from the club, Trevor and Mindy, and Caroline sees how their apartment gets crowded. The more people the better, she thinks, considering her plan to keep Klaus busy.

Tyler makes an attempt to mend fences with her, and she complies, because if anything goes wrong tonight, if world ends despite her trying to save it, Caroline doesn't want any grudges to be held.

Romantic music seeps through the apartment as the booze cruise moves to the kitchen to play yet another drinking game, leaving two couples in the living room so they can sway and cuddle. Kol lets Meredith's head rest on his shoulder, Tyler and his girlfriend dance slowly. Caroline observes them from where she stands, in her bedroom door, smiling to herself.

If only everything could be fixed by throwing a party...

Then Klaus' face appears in front of her. He's calm and composed like her previous actions or mood swings or the cold shoulder she was giving him don't really matter anymore.

"We still have some time." He says softly looking her straight in the eyes. She presses her lips into a thin line like a sulky little girl.

"Come on, you don't want to end it like this, do you?" And she caves in, letting him gently push her further into the room. She's not running away, she's not backing off, she just stares at him with those heartbroken blue eyes, knowing the time has come. A tear runs down her cheek as he embraces her and holds her tiny frame in his arms, stroking her hair while more tears follow. He stands still while Caroline buries her face in his chest. All that angst she tried to hold back, all that pent-up emotions are flooding Caroline's mind and heart, bursting the dam of her own pride.

Giving up, she wraps her arms around his neck and clings on to him like there is no tomorrow, because there isn't. Not for them.

(\o/)

Seeing Caroline disappear with Klaus in her room, catching the last glance the blonde gives her as she closes the door, Meredith stops dancing and takes Kol by the hand.

"I have a surprise for you." The doctor smiles tentatively. "But we need to go out."

"Another birthday gift?" He grins suggestively. She's surprised him enough today (_oh yes she has_), but Kol isn't a man that would say no to a lady. So they sneak out of the apartment and go down the stairs.

"The call of the wild, you're saying." He jokes as they go outside, but his girlfriend's face gets tense.

"There's someone who wants to talk to you." Meredith points at a black Mercedes in the parking lot, and Kol's eyes fall on the man that waits leaning against it. He's wearing a suit, his hands hidden in the pockets of his trousers, his legs crossed, but he straightens up the moment he sees Kol.

Kol lets go of Meredith's hand and starts walking towards the man like hypnotized. This face. He knows this face. He keeps walking and staring at the stranger, a man unknown yet so familiar. Like the world ceased to exist, Kol hears nothing and sees nothing else as he stomps forward, his eyes fixed on that face. Stopping a few meters away from the man, Kol opens his mouth to talk, but he's flabbergasted.

It's impossible. It can't be happening. He's dreaming, it must be just a figment of his drunk imagination.

"Brother." The man nods, still unsure whether the younger recognizes him or not.

With shaky voice and trembling hands, Kol chokes out, "Brother."

(\o/)

Everything she's doing seems wistful and desperate. The way she's kissing him hard on the lips, her tongue dancing with his, the way she sighs when his hands are roaming all over her body. Every move she makes is hasty, filled with longing, since time isn't their friend anymore—it passes stealing from them precious moments, kisses, and touches. Every second measured by her heartbeat steals another stroke of his hand. Every moment in which he caresses her slips away as quickly as it comes. Clock's ticking.

His back hits the bedpost as he lands sitting on the bed while she straddles him, her hands creeping up his chest that's rising and falling faster and faster, and resting on either side of his neck, her eyes fastened on his. She wishes this moment could last forever, the very moment when their stares meet and their hungry lips lock again in a combat. Part of Caroline dies every time she remembers nobody will ever kiss her like that again.

Klaus thinks she's extraordinary, captivating. His hands travel up and down her sides, then cup her round breasts, reveling in their fullness. It's like she's a toxic substance that gets into his system through the palms of his hands like poison that used to enter a painter's organism when he was painting with his fingers. The more he touches, the more he takes in. But look at her—-a naked goddess with body like carved in marble, with her golden locks falling into her flushed face—isn't she stunning? Stunning, and all his.

These hips rocking against his as she rides him—all his. These breasts he attacks with his mouth, driving her crazy—all his. The light she carries within herself and the strength that makes her who she is, every piece of the wonder she is, all this belongs to him. Apart from his family finally united, he never wanted anything as much as he wants her.

When his head dives towards her chest and his tongue flicks around one of her nipples, Caroline tilts her head in ecstasy, her locks cascading down her back. Her eyes flutter as she arches her back, and for a fraction of a second she sees the small clock hanging on the wall. Time, her worst enemy and, at the same time, her only ally right now.

He buckles his hips, and waves of deep, intense pleasure sweep through Caroline making her moan his name out loud. He doesn't care whether people in the other room hear them—everything earthly and mundane will cease to matter in an hour. His hands pull her face down into an ardent kiss, and it's followed by another, and then even one more, as his lips continue to affectionately crash against hers, and every kiss is met with a thrust. If Klaus was human, his back would be severely bruised from hitting the wooden bedpost so many times. The bed rocks along with them, the room is filled with the sound of their ragged breathing.

Caroline gasps feeling her climax coming like a flood that is about to wipe out a whole village. She feels something heavy nestling in her chest when she thinks it's the last time they are together like that. They fit so perfectly together, he fills her completely, and when he moves inside of her, guiding her hips up and down she doesn't want it to end.

"Klaus." She moans as her head starts spinning, the pleasure throbbing inside of her, consuming her, making her whimper and shiver. She feels his grip on her waist tighten as he drives her harder for the last time before burying his head between her breasts, getting his release as well. He's panting heavily, his forehead still against her chest, and she rests her chin on his head, her hand sneaking into his ruffled hair. She loves messing with his short curls, and her heart aches at the thought that it's the last time she's doing it.

"I'm so sorry." She whispers, squeezing her eyes shut to keep them from watering. Klaus raises his head and cups her face, their noses touch.

"Don't be, love."

"But—"

"Let's get dressed, shall we? There's only half an hour left till midnight." He gets up and starts picking his crumpled clothes off the floor.

Caroline slips the violet dress on, and bends down to reach for the pair of matching heels when a hand grabs her wrist. Her eyes widen in shock when she sees a pair of handcuffs. Before she can even scream she's up against the wall—click!—handcuffed to a pipe of the radiator.

"What are you doing?!" She huffs bewildered, completely disorientated, tugging at the chain that binds her to the pipe.

"Making sure you won't do anything stupid, sweetheart." His thumb brushes down her cheek.

"What are you talking about?" Caroline shakes her head protesting, but then her heart starts racing as she sees his _fangs_ protrude and pierce the skin of his wrist. He bites at it, the sound of flesh being torn makes Caroline sick.

''Oh no, please, don't—'' Suddenly his bleeding wrist is stuck against her mouth and he presses it so hard Caroline has no other choice but to gulp, swallowing his blood in the process. A crimson droplet trickles down her chin, the coppery taste remains on her tongue as she opens her mouth gaping at him, horrified by what he's just done.

"Just in case Stefan bails on me. I need to be sure you won't escape." He checks the handcuffs once again.

"Escape?" Caroline's voice trembles. Klaus gently puts both hands on her shoulders and gives her a deep suggestive look so she can figure out herself what he's up to.

"With my blood running in your system," he says slowly, carefully as if he was treading on a minefield, staring at her all the time, "they won't let you go through the gates of Heaven.''

''You're... taking me with you.'' Her reaction is exactly what he expected. Her chin quivers, her blue eyes reflect terror that reigns in her heart now. She's shaking her head frantically as if in denial, and shrugs his hands off her shoulder like his touch that seconds ago was getting her high now burned her skin.

"You lied to me." She hisses, unable to say it aloud because her voice gets caught in her throat. "All this time, you knew. You were talking about making memories and saying goodbye while you knew you wouldn't... We wouldn't..." He looks guilty, but only for a moment.

"And all that 'I-give-you-a-choice' talk. Filthy lies!" She's full of bitterness and resentment, tearing at the handcuffs out of desperation.

"I can't let you go, sweetheart.'' He means it. ''Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind. You'll thank me later." He turns around and heads to the living room when she clears her throat and says dryly,

"There will be no _later._"

He would take it for an empty threat if it wasn't for her tone. So cold yet so broken. Warily, he opens the door and sees the living room... empty. The music is still on, but not a soul can be found either there or in the kitchen.

"Kol." He lets out a breath and runs to Kol's room only to find nothing. Nobody. Nobody's here. His nostrils flare as he dashes to Caroline's room where she's still standing tied to the long vertical pipe, her lips pressed tightly.

"What did you do, Caroline?" He growls. "What did you do?!" There are still thirty minutes, thoughts are racing through Klaus' head, it's enough if she tells him what's going on.

"Turn on the TV set and look at the clock."

He does. His phone says, 11:30 pm, and so does any other clock in the apartment. The clock on a news channel, however, says: half past midnight.

_Half past midnight. _

Klaus' face gets ghostly-pale. Impossible. Then it hits him. _"Your phone." He hears Caroline's voice behind his back. "It was lying on the kitchen floor." Klaus knits his eyebrows, trying to figure out how it was even possible, but then he gives up and just puts the device back in his pocket_.

Keeping him busy all day, keeping him distracted, putting clocks back, snatching his phone to mess with it... It was all part of a plan. It still sounds absurd in his head, but the pieces to the puzzle fit mercilessly.

She tricked him.

She tricked him pulling the oldest trick in the world!

A simple _clock. _Months of preparations, all in vain because of an angel and a stupid, ordinary clock.

No, he argues, it's impossible, she couldn't. She _wouldn't_. He's the one who keeps secrets, he is the one with plans B and C and D, he is the one that wins tonight, it's impossible for her to do this to him! Out of question. She's _loyal_ to him, she wouldn't!

Klaus walks slowly into her bedroom, taking small wary steps, hoping she will deny it, but one glance at her face is the most painful confirmation he can get. With her face she pleads guilty.

"You did it." He mutters.

''I'm so sorry, Klaus.'' He glares at her, his eyes darken and she can see a storm brewing in them. He approaches Caroline menacingly, his tense face devoid of any affection it showed before. She must admit, with every step he takes he looks like he's losing it. When he stops inches away from her trembling form, there is no light or not even a hint of sanity in his eyes.

Klaus feels there's a huge gaping hole where his heart used to be. She ripped it out of his chest and rubbed it into his face.

You fool. You took her for granted.

The masterplan of his life, his big moment, everything is lost. Destroyed. Wasted and squandered because of her. Rebekah will be stuck with their father forever, and Klaus will never rule Hell. As if he woke up from a deep slumber, he growls grabbing a small vase standing on a drawer, and Caroline lets out a scream as it goes flying across the room, shattering into small pieces against the wall, right next to her. A falling chip of glass cuts her cheek drawing blood, leaving a thin line of cut skin.

Then he storms into the living room and destroys every piece of furniture that's there—chairs, bookshelves, a glass coffee table—and after the last sorrowful glance at the TV clock, he grabs the screen and throws it on the floor, looking at sparks produced by his action. Oh, it's just the beginning.

He screams in pain and bellows in rage, tearing the place into pieces. Hit. Slam. Crash. Howl and scream. Caroline's heart breaks with every sounds she hears until she's unable to breathe.

(\o/)

When nothing's left in the apartment, he's back in her room, facing her with so much hatred, fury burning in his eyes that turn yellow, dark veins spreading like roots under his eyes. She knows that look. She remembers it from the night he bit her. Caroline tries to break the chain, but the handcuffs are pure silver, impossible to cut off. A deathly bracelet.

His clawed hand clenches around her neck, and Caroline's face starts to turn purple.

"How could you do this to me?!" He snarls like a rabid dog. She's suffocating but she has enough strength in her to choke out,

"What you wanted—" she gasps, "was wrong." His hold lessens, but only a bit so she can speak. "You made me fall in love with you," Klaus' eye twitches when he hears her words, "you opened my eyes to so many things. It was my turn to open yours. I had to be cruel to be kind, too."

He swallows hard when she retaliates stabbing him in the back with his own words. His grips gets tighter again.

"You betrayed me and you call it _love_?" His upper lips curls up in disgust revealing a fang so sharp it could cut like a diamond.

"Yes, it's still love. You can't say somebody doesn't love you just because they don't love you _the way you want them to_." She says calmly, feeling the lack of air affect her, her vision going blurry. Caroline knows she won't last much longer with him strangling her. A faint smile is all she can give him while dark dots are playing in front of her eyes.

"You betrayed me too, Klaus, but I forgive you." Yes, Caroline is sure she forgives him now, but would she be so forgiving if he took her to Hell? Would she be so merciful if he destroyed Earth and selfishly kept her against her will in the Underworld?

It's easy to forgive when you're a winner.

There's a tear that burns his eye, and it slowly falls down his face as he says through the gritted teeth, "But I won't."

"Let the angel go." A commanding tone resounds in the room, making Klaus release Caroline immediately. His glare darts to the bedroom door, and he gasps when he sees two figures standing in the doorway.

"Elijah." His jaw drops. "Kol." He's about to move towards them when Kol cringes, making Klaus freeze where he stands. Caroline leans against the pipe, finally catching her breath.

"Back off, you son of a—" Kol flinches. "You bast—" He's desperately fishing for the right word, but to no avail. Damn it. "Back off... Klaus! You wanted to kill me!"

"What are you doing here?" Klaus thinks he's going crazy, this madness must have cause some kind of hallucination. He hasn't seen Elijah for a century.

"Stopping you from making a mistake you would deeply regret."

"Do you know what happened? Do you know we'll never get Rebekah back?" For the first time Caroline hears not anger, but _despair_ in Klaus' cracking voice. He's anguished and tormented by his own powerlessness. This is what these devilish, power-hungry blue eyes hide: despair.

"I _do_ know what happened. If it wasn't for the lady, I'd lose Broadway forever because of your... royal ambitions." Elijah says gruffly spitting the last two words, and walks to Caroline brushing past his stunned brother.

"And about our sister... Now that we have Kol with us—a tiny detail you didn't _bother_ to inform me about—not all is lost, but we'll talk later." There's a spark in Klaus' eyes, but also a tinge of disappointment. He still can't depose Mikael. As much as his family ambitions are sustained, his craving for power will remain unsatisfied. His ultimate dream of ruling Hell with his family by his side won't be fulfilled.

"The key." Elijah commands, and his brother hands him a small silver key he was keeping in his pocket. When the handcuffs unlock, Caroline slides to the ground. She's shaking, her breath irregular.

She has lost him. She knew she would, but it still hurts—a shooting pain in her chest, a searing ache that spreads over her whole body. Every part of her is wrecked, damaged.

If this is her Victory, why does it feel so bitter and devastating?

"Forgive my brother's terrible lack of manners," Elijah's voice shakes her out of her daze, "I hope he wasn't treating you like that all the time."

Caroline blinks at Elijah confused, but then she understands. Neither Elena nor Kol told him.

"Um."

"Good. Thank you, Caroline, for your help. I owe you. Now, if you excuse us, we should attend to our family business." Elijah gives her a respectful bow and turns to leave. After sending her a quick reassuring smile, Kol follows his brother. He knows he owes her too. He owes her his life—actually she saved it twice. One day he'll thank her properly.

Klaus stands still, his eyes fixed on the wall, but his stare absent, unreadable. It slowly shifts from the wall to the blonde angel sitting on the floor with her arms hugging her knees. Barely an hour ago they were kissing in this room, saying their fake goodbye, and now it's time for the real one.

She betrayed him, maybe it was all just a cunning act, maybe she never loved him. And he wanted her more than anything in the world. He wanted her to be his queen, he was going to give her everything she would ever want, he was going to make her happy, come hell of high water—literally.

He fell for a little blonde angel. He trusted her—truly and implicitly _trusted_ her!—while plotting against her in secret, and moreover, somehow he expected her to trust him back.

How careless of him, how foolish.

A devil, yet a fool.

Caroline raises her eyes when she hears footsteps in the room, but he's not going in her direction. After all that happened he's walking away without a word.

"I hope you'll save your sister." She says quietly, staring at his back. He stops right in the doorway, but doesn't turn back, so she can't see his face. He's quiet for an incredibly long, tense, heartbreaking second.

"You should rather hope we'll never meet again." His flat, distant, unemotional voice makes her heart sink. "Because if we do, mark my words, I'll hunt you down and make you pay." Not only for stopping the Apocalypse, but also for breaking his heart.

A single tear falls down Caroline's cheek. (She can't tell you how many of them fell today. She stopped counting.) No trumpets playing in the sky, no victory march for her. Is this really what winners do after war is over? Lose hope and cry in an empty battlefield?

…

..

.

..

...

**A/N**: Over 5,000 words about some fancy Apocalypse that didn't happen.

(Or maybe, in its own way, it did? What do you think my lovelies?)


	17. i want it all to hurt

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**I want it all to hurt**_

**...**

(\o/)

_A rapid bolt will rend the clouds apart,_

_and every single white be seared by wounds._

_I tell you this. I want it all to hurt. _

_[Dante Alighieri, Inferno]_

(\o/)

They get to the same hotel room Stefan found himself in. Kol sits sprawled in an armchair, Elijah stands royally with his hands clasped behind his back, and Klaus is pacing angrily around the room, fuming like a chimney during Christmas time.

"What now, huh? What now?!"

Elijah and Kol exchange knowing looks, rolling their eyes at their impatient, impulsive brother. It's the twentieth lap he's running, and they all wait for the moment when he'll finally get dizzy and puke on the carpet. A nice carpet, Elijah must admit, red and fluffy. When they realize Klaus isn't going to faint anytime soon, Kol groans and gets up, walks to his brother and delivers a straight left to his face. The punch makes Klaus spin around and land on the bed, stars dancing in front of his very eyes. (He could swear they are wearing blonde wigs.)

"What was that for?" He spits, gently rubbing his jaw.

"Hmmm. Maybe for lying to me? Or for planning to kill me while pretending to be my friend?" Finally, Kol gives vent to his anger.

Elijah sighs resignedly. "Here we go."

"I wasn't going to kill you!" Klaus sounds offended. "It would be more like... falling asleep and—"

"And waking up in Hell, thank you very much!"

"It was in Rebekah's best interest!"

"How big of you, you lying piece of—"

"Enough!" Elijah growls. Both Klaus and Kol stop arguing to stare and gape at him. Wow, this phlegmatic, distant being in an impeccable suit can fire off from time to time.

"Sit down and listen." He commands, and his brothers follow the order like two obedient dogs. "If we act fast enough, we can get our sister out without Mikael noticin—"

"Great!" Klaus snorts. "One question, though. How do you expect us to break the seal that's keeping Rebekah locked up? The rules say, in order to break any seal made by the King aka Daddy Dearest, all the brothers must unite. Finn will never side with us."

"If you paid more attention to our family you'd know Finn's _dead_."

It renders Klaus speechless, finally. Elijah's lips form a slight smirk. Klaus has always treated their family as his possession, bossing around, giving orders, yet this time Elijah is in charge surprising him. Seeing Klaus stunned expression, he answers the silent question, ''Sage. Long story.''

"This means..."

"We are the only brothers left. We are united."

"Cool!" Kol breaks the solemn moment of inspiring enlightenment with his straightforward enthusiasm. "Let's hit the road, then!"

"Before we leave, you need to know something." Elijah says receiving a scolding glare from Klaus. He knows Klaus would withhold the truth from Kol just to make him join their side, but Elijah wants to play fair. Kol should know about the consequences before they go through the portal.

"First of all, you're human side took over your devilish one making it dormant. Going to Hell will make it resurface again. It means you'll come back to Earth... changed."

"Like, horns and hooves?" Kol frowns. Pop-culture has shaped his understanding of Hell in a certain way which involves cattle-like limbs, luxuriant if not excessive body hair, red skin, and a lot of screaming and damnation in general.

Elijah drags a palm of his hand over his face. Shame on you, brother, shame on you I say.

"No, more like fangs and blood lust." Klaus chimes in. He approaches Kol as his face keeps changing. His eyes turn yellow and dark veins spread under them. He opens his mouth and bares a pair of sharp, pointy, vampire fangs. "Darkness. Rage."

Kol swallows hard at the sight of Klaus' evil face, but then he grits his teeth and dryly says,

"Well, by looking at Klaus, I assume this package includes also an eternal curse of being a toxic jerk, and inability to have healthy relationships."

"Say another word and I'll tear out your liver!" A growl resounds in the room.

Elijah lets out a scornful laugh. "No, this is a special Klaus edition." He looks at Kol and Klaus facing each other like two angry cats. Even when they argue they have the same flame burning in their eyes. Their lips curl up in the same way, their eyes twitch almost simultaneously. Even when they are at odds with each other, they are brothers, no doubts about it.

When the door closes after they leave, something starts moving under the bed. It sounds like something big and tied up that's trying to free itself by banging its head against a wooden bed frame.

"Hey guys! I'm still here!" Stefan calls from the floor, but nobody answers. "Guys...?"

(\o/)

They say, after every war someone has to clean up eventually.

Caroline spends a few hours just sitting on the floor, staring absently at a bare wall that has been skinned like a hare—the paint fell off when Klaus threw his temper tantrum. She thinks, wouldn't it be great? Just be a wall, be blank, feel nothing.

Wall or not, Caroline knows the apartment won't tidy up itself. Broken glass, paint that's flaking off, deep holes in the walls. Greek ruins are true luxury compared to what's left in Kol's condo. Caroline doesn't even know where to start. She just picks up piece after piece and throws it into a garbage bag until it fills to the brim, then she replaces it with a new one and starts over. Such a simple task, she thinks. She should have her own TV show about cleaning. Anthea Turner can bite her.

You know who can also bite her? Bonnie who's standing right in front of Caroline.

Wait, what?

Oh, right. Bonnie. Hi.

Caroline gulps and straightens up, the plastic bag still in her hand. Her superior looks far from being happy. Very far. Like, somewhere beyond the horizon of happiness where the sun doesn't shine, and even a bit further. In other words, she's pretty pissed off.

Let me tell you something about Bonnie. She's one of the superiors not because she sings on her own like a few choirs altogether. She is Caroline's superior because Bonnie, a stickler for heavenly order, always does the right thing. She does not lie, she's never wrong, she always follows the rules. Her name means "good" after all.

And here stands Caroline, an angel that broke several rules like you break branches in the woods. So easily. Crack, and it's done.

"I think you know why I'm here." Bonnie says in a calm, but tense tone. Caroline's insubordination hurts like a slap across the face.

"Bonnie, I—" Caroline's voice falters. "I made up for everything. Nothing bad happened, I swear!"

"Do you _understand_ how grave are the consequences of your careless, willful actions? Your... your whims!"

"But I stopped him, Bonnie! Nobody got hurt!"

Bonnie has that look on her face that is familiar to everyone who tried to communicate with a foreigner and failed miserably.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?" She shakes her head, her anger rising. "Kol wasn't supposed to exist at all! You disturbed the supernatural balance!"

"No! I saved his life! I gave him a chance to be human!"

"And what do you know about being human, Caroline? You'll never understand them. It's not our task. We have to follow orders!"

"He lived, had a family, made some mistakes, but also some good deeds, he made choices, he fell in love!" Caroline's in despair. "And I did, too. I had friends here, my family, I made choices, I—"

"Fell in love?" Bonnie spits, her stare—sharp like a dagger—aimed directly at Caroline. "Did you, really?"

Caroline's chin quivers. Her voice gets stuck in her throat, trapped like a bug in a sundew. She wants to say, yes, she did fall in love with a devil, even if she betrayed him. Sometimes our actions don't go hand in hand with our feelings—sometimes they just can't.

Seeing Caroline bite her lip, Bonnie takes a deep breath to ease her mind before delivering the message Caroline's been dreading.

"I'm taking away you wings."

"What?! Please, Bonnie, don't—" She pleads, but a sudden, burning sensation shoots through her spine. Bending double in pain, she screams at the top of her lungs. Bonnie winces, but doesn't stop until Caroline ends up curled up on the floor, gasping for air. Her back aches like someone cut her in half with a sword, excruciating pain spreading from the center of her back to every limb of her body. Her supernatural body which seems to be on fire now.

"I'm following orders, Caroline. You're banished from Heaven, therefore condemned to an eternal wandering." Bonnie says.

Leaving home for a journey is one thing, but getting thrown out of it—that's a completely different story. Caroline loved Earth because it meant freedom, it meant not having to go back to Heaven, it meant having a choice. But then they say they don't want her in Heaven anymore and suddenly Earth doesn't mean freedom, now it means inevitability. When there's no place for you where you come from, all places start to feel... strange, cold, unwelcoming. Like by a strange twist of fate she stopped belonging anywhere.

"What does it make me? A supernatural? A human?"

"No, it makes you something in between. This is your punishment, Caroline. You'll never fit either in Heaven or in here." Caroline used to think Bonnie has no feelings. Theoretically, she shouldn't have. Angels aren't born, they are _made_. This is the difference between angels and devils. But when she looks up at her superior she sees a glint of... compassion, is it? Are other angels like her, just concealing their feelings out of fear? Are they living a lie? Stefan is like her, after all, or at least he used to be.

Bonnie wants to say she's sorry, but something doesn't let her. It's better this way, a voice tells her, it's what everyone should treat as a lesson. So she leaves Caroline alone, without answers.

(\o/)

Elijah learns something Klaus learned long time ago: Kol is the worst travel companion ever.

"So, where are we going? Is it far?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Is it going to be a lon—"

"No!"

Klaus smirks seeing Elijah's grip on the steering wheel tighten. It's your time to put up with Kol, dear brother. Drink your own poison.

They have to get to the nearest portal, and Elijah claims to know where it is. Klaus hasn't used portals for so long it would take him more time to figure out where the evil energy comes from. Funny thing, a portal. You never know where you can find one.

"I bet we're going to a cemetery. Right? All portals are in cemeteries or in old, ruined houses or..."

"Cemeteries?" Elijah snorts trying to focus on the road. "You've seen too much Buffy, Kol. Cemeteries are so last century."

"Excuse me for sticking to the canon!" Kol huffs. Klaus has been a nuisance to Kol, but Elijah's patronizing attitude is infuriating. It's only logical that gates to Hell, any gates, should be located in a place with an adequate atmosphere. There is nothing wrong with cemeteries or abandoned houses, Kol sulks.

"Wait a minute, did you just say _Buffy_?"

(\o/)

The apartment doesn't look exactly like it used to, but when Caroline covers all holes in the walls with posters and throws away broken glass and plaster, it doesn't look haunted.

"I suppose I should be starting over then." She sighs. When on a mission, she never thought about such simple things like paying the rent on her own, getting job, getting money. Now, when Heaven abandoned her, she's no longer entitled to use the credit card. She's no longer entitled to count on Heaven's help. This is where the real life starts and Caroline can openly admit that she's scared. How can she live a human life if she isn't one of them? She always thought she'll return to Earth one day and live on it, but with Heaven's support. She would travel, help people, be a guardian maybe. But now it's not a job she's doing in the human world, it's her life now—without any heavenly means provided.

Some people have at least their guardian angels. Caroline doesn't, and she finds it cruelly ironic.

There's just one room that needs to be taken care of. A room Caroline is afraid to enter. It's Klaus' bedroom, a place where she spent a lot of time with him. Not only in the... you know, carnal way. He liked to sketch her, and enjoyed every minute of the intimacy that it brought. The door still creaks the same way it used to when she was sneaking into his room at night. It seems like he forgot to demolish this one. Everything is in its place except Klaus' stuff that disappeared. The bookshelves are empty, and so are the drawers except for the one in the bedside table. There is something there, and it makes Caroline's eyes water again.

His sketchbook. Dozens of sketches of her face, her body, even small details like the corner of her mouth when she smiled—it's all here. He must have left it not being able to stand the sight of her. She looks at a picture of herself sitting with her bare back turned to him, the sketch he made that day when she surrendered to his soft lips and sweet words. It was the day she saw more than just a devil in him. She wonders if he ever saw more than just an angel he would like to keep in her.

Caroline takes the sketchbook and starts packing. She needs to find a new place to live. The lease was firmed by Kol only, so she never figured as a resident. She just gave him one third of the rent. It's time to leave before the owner comes again. As a newcomer she doesn't have much, everything fits into one suitcase.

She sits down on a couch with her baggage and hunches her back, propping her chin on one hand.

She's ready to leave, but she has nowhere to go.

"Hey." Elena's voice resounds behind Caroline's back. The blonde jumps from the couch and runs into Elena's open arms. "I'm so sorry, Caroline."

"What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I mean, nothing's wrong with me. But you look like you could use some guardian angel's help. I'm here for you, sister." Elena smiles and hugs Caroline even tighter. Caroline would've never thought the two of them could become fire-forged friends. They were constantly fighting in Heaven, but in the end Elena was the only one Caroline trusted. If there is anyone that can understand Caroline's situation right now, it's her.

(\o/)

Elijah pulls up in a parking lot close to Union Station. They walk down to the tunnel and wait for the Red Line. Kol wants to flood Elijah with questions, but Klaus' glare stops him. They sit in silence while train goes through the stations. People get in and leave, talk about aunt Nora's latest haircut, how James got stuck with that stupid Mandy because she got pregnant, and why they ship Darvey. At first Elijah thinks shipping things is one of the most boring subjects in the world, but soon he discovers that it's not exactly about _transportation_. He learns that Darvey apparently means Donna and Harvey, and that people discuss their relationship. Then it turns out that it's a fictional couple, and that humans live vicariously through fictional characters.

"Fascinating."

"What?" Kol cocks his eyebrow at stunned Elijah.

"Humans. They ship people."

"They did in the past," Klaus snorts, "it's called slave trade."

"No, I mean... Whatever." Elijah shrugs and goes back to staring at other passengers. His brothers will never understand.

When the train reaches its last station, Kol gets ready to leave when Elijah grabs him by the shoulder and tells him to wait. They are the only passengers left, and the door closes. Kol waits for some words of explanation from Elijah, but hears nothing.

Then the train moves forward.

"It's impossible." Kol frowns confused. If he was alone, he'd be panicking right now. "That was the last station."

"For humans."

"Train to Hell?'' Kol deadpans. ''You must be kidding me."

The smug expression on his brother's face is telling him it's not a joke, and what's more—that this was probably Elijah's _brilliant_ idea.

(\o/)

In fairy tales, when three brothers go on a treasure hunt, their quest results in death of two of them. Knights slay dragons, or the other way round. Usually only the youngest survives, and the reward for saving the princess is her hand and half of the kingdom. Sometimes, when fairy tale goes off the rail, he gets literally only her hand, or half of the princess and the whole kingdom, which isn't that bad... eventually.

When Kol gets out of the train and faces enormous gates with brasswork all over them. The door handle in a form of a devil's head—with a pointy, snake-like tongue sticking out—is looking at them ominously.

"Remember, we sneak into the castle, get to Rebekah's tower, break the seal, and we get the hell out once we have her with us." Elijah commands. "No distractions."

In fairy tales good always defeats evil. But what happens when evil fights evil?

(\o/)

Mikael doesn't rule Hell just because he looks scary. He is absolutely terrifying, and when his sons run for their life, Kol carrying Rebekah on his back because the old sick creep daggered and dessicated her, Klaus tells Elijah to help the youngest while he covers their back.

He hears Mikael's low growl_, Come and face me, you coward! Instead of fighting like a prince of Hell, y__ou're running like a peasant you really are!_

When he hears no response, he starts laughing maniacally. _Nobody cares about you, little boy!_

Klaus hears, _Who do you have other than those whose loyalty you forced? No one!_

He knows Mikael only wants to provoke him, and the old man is doing well so far. Klaus' patience is wearing thin. He just want to grab the dagger that was meant for Kol before and go back into the darkness, and stab Mikael right in his heart. It would kill them both, because you can't just kill The Devil Number One without consequences, but desire to see life escaping Mikael's eyes is setting Klaus' skin alight.

Elijah looks back and shakes his head at Klaus. ''Don't.''

Klaus grits his teeth when Mikael's voice thunders, _Even your family will leave you when they get __sick of your impulse! You will live forever with no one at your side! _

Klaus' eyes widen when he sees a flash of light coming in their direction. He runs towards Elijah and spreads his arms wide.

He feels something sharp go through his side making him stumble and fall.

(\o/)

Caroline looks around her new, tiny condo. It's just a bedroom with a kitchenette and a small bathroom. She doesn't need more space, and it's fairly cheap considering Los Angeles. Elena gives her some money for a good start and list of current job offers to look through. She promises to visit Caroline on a regular basis and support her in every way she can.

Elena, savior of the cursed and the damned.

Caroline opens the newspaper. If you want a job, you must do what you do best, Elena said. Well, Caroline doesn't have any diploma. The only thing she has the knack for is baking. Cookies, but she could give muffins and pies a shot. She would like to make people's lives less bitter. Sugar is good for a broken heart. Speaking of which...

Her hand, as if it had a mind of its own, reaches for Klaus' sketchbook. Too bad she never asked him to draw a self-portrait. She would have his face on a paper now. She has a sketchbook full of her own face, and she just can't look at herself anymore. If there was a fireplace in her flat, she'd burn all these sketches while listening to Lana Del Rey.

Just when she wants to throw a one-guest pity party, someone knocks at the door. A gasp escapes Caroline's lips. Nobody knows she's living here, so this must be a stranger. What if it's a serial killer? What if he spotted her somehow and chose her as his target? Maybe he's a Russian agent or a member of Mara Salvatrucha, a dangerous Latino gang?

_Knock, knock._ Damn, she doesn't even have anything to defend hersel—Wait! She does.

Making her steps barely audible, Caroline tiptoes to the door. If he wants to kill her, he will have to go through her frying pan first! Au revoir! Dasvidaniya! Buenas noches forever, muchacho!

She opens the door and takes a swing, ready to hit the man straight in the face, but she stops in midair.

"Going hunting?" She hears a husky voice. It's the flat owner. She wanted to kill her landlord with a frying pan. She should start packing again.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I freaked out." Caroline stutters, hiding the instrument of crime behind her back. She's just made a fool of herself in front of a very nice, young, and quite handsome guy. Maybe he said something about this flat belonging to his mother who died. Or maybe she went abroad. Details, details.

"Um, Mr..." Right, what's his name?

"Dean, just call me Dean."

"Caroline."

"I know." He explains, holding back a laugh as she starts blushing. "I have your signature on the lease. But you didn't put your last name here."

Caroline mentally slaps herself, _well, so much for a good start, Caroline you idiot._

"It's..." She desperately tries to come up with a fake but believable last name. She's seen a magazine once, and its title had a nice ring to it. It was... It was...

"Forbes! Caroline Forbes."

"Thank you, Caroline Forbes. If you need something, I live under 8B." His longish hair falls in his eyes as he nods at the funny, weirdly compelling blonde that defends herself with kitchen utensils.

Dean's about to leave when she clears her throat.

"I need a job." She admits, a little ashamed. "Maybe you know about any, for a girl like me."

He tilts his head to a side, observing her with silent amusement. "What does this girl do?" He has this laid-back, I-don't-care attitude, but there's much more to him that meets the eye, she concludes.

"She bakes cookies."

To Caroline's surprise, Dean's bright blue eyes reveal growing interest. "Does she? Because if you're serious, I will say you are a godsend."

_You have no idea, mister_. Caroline raises her eyebrows, urging him to continue.

"My mother used to run a cake shop. I have no idea how to take care of it after she passed away." Oh, so she's not on vacation in Honolulu, Caroline bites her lower lip.

"You know what, I will call you tomorrow, okay? I think we can figure something out." He smiles reassuringly and takes his phone to save her number.

When Dean's gone, Caroline sighs with relief. Maybe this new life on her own won't be that bad.

She just has to survive one day at a time, with Klaus' sketchbook under her pillow, a burden of her feelings for him in her chest, and guilt that's eating her up. One day after another till she learns how to live.

(\o/)

Rebekah opens her eyes to a blinding light that comes through the window. Light. She hasn't seen it in a while. She doesn't remember anything that's happened during last 24 hours. But if there's light here, it means...

"Where am I?" She jumps to her feet looking around the room. A guy around her age is sitting in the corner, his head hanging low. When he looks up, Rebekah almost screams as her heart starts racing.

"Kol!" She runs across the room and clings to him like he would disappear if she ever let him go.

"I knew you'd come for me." She whispers into his neck, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Kol squeezes his eyes, every bone in his body is killing him. His head feels like a time-bomb, heavy and full of dangerous ideas. When Rebekah finally releases him, he runs the tip of his tongue over his teeth. He could swear they were there a minute ago, two razor-sharp fangs. When he looks at himself in the mirror, all he can see are dark veins under his eyes, fangs protruding from his gums, and he feels an overwhelming anger pulsating in his veins. When he doesn't control himself, he breaks things, like cups, light bulbs, plates, door handles. Elijah tells him it will pass, but Kol's anxiety is growing every minute he thinks he's a monster.

But he looks at his sister, the same girl that was calling for his help in his dreams, and seeing she's safe now Kol knows he wouldn't hesitate to do it again. His family is complete now, he doesn't know these people yet he feels incredibly powerful bond with them.

Blood ties speak louder than memories he never had.

He got a glimpse of his father's furious face as they were closing the gates, running away, leaving him in Hell. If you rule Hell, Elijah says, you're confined to it. That's why they will never go back to Hell-Earth is the only safe place for them. Mikael will never leave his domain to go after his ungrateful children. He can't.

Elijah and Klaus join them, and there is a lot of Rebekah's tears, Elijah's solemn oaths, Klaus' cursing their father, and even more of Kol's confusion.

Klaus clutches at his side where his father's spear hit him. Mikael is pretty much oldschool when it comes to weapons. A good tried-and-tested spear can do as much damage as a bullet, plus it's more spectacular. Indeed, Klaus' wound looks like a bloody pit.

"How are you?" Elijah comes to the bathroom after his brother.

"Been better, but Rebekah is here and it's all that counts." Klaus says looking at Elijah's reflection in the mirror.

"You saved me. He would have hit me if it hadn't been for you. Thank you." Mikael was aiming at Elijah, knowing that they were always at odds with Klaus. Divide and conquer, but not this time. This time it's not about siblings' rivalry, but their bond.

He saw it down there, when Mikael almost got them. He saw himself in Mikael's cold blue eyes. He isn't Klaus' real father, yet out of all Mikael's children it is Klaus who resembles him most. Cruel, heartless, dominating. Their mother always feared Mikael who treated her like his possession. He locked her in Hell, smiled and cared for her when she was obedient, but just when she defied him, he threw her out straight to Earth, banished her because she stood to him. Klaus sees a certain pattern in his life now, and bitterness seizes his heart like a hand ready to tear it out. History repeating itself, that's exactly what he wanted to do to Caroline.

"If I ruled Hell I would become just like him. Thanks to you I'm not."

"No,'' Elijah puts his hand on Klaus' shoulder, ''it's not me you should be thanking, but you already know that."

(\o/)

''Kol, where's Stefan?'' Rebekah asks tentatively. Kol's face gets pale as he realizes that... Right... Stefan. Oops.

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: Guys guys guys! PFTL was nominated for **Best Comedy Fic**, and its humble author for **Best Comedy Author** and **Best AU/AH author**! Yay!

You can find the links on my tumblr blog (_liarfaker_), and on Klaroline Awards blog (_klarolineawards_).

Your support from the very beginning of this story was awesome, and if you take your time and vote (you can vote once per day), I'd be eternally grateful. This story got so many chapters only because of you, guys. You rock!


	18. a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven**_

**...**

(\o/)

_A mind not to be changed by place or time._

_The mind is its own place, and in itself_

_Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven._

—_John Milton, Paradise Lost_

(\o/)

**3 MONTHS LATER**

Klaus lies sprawled on his bed and closes his eyes for a hundredth time since... Yes, he's been counting.

_Caroline is laughing excitedly, her words echoing in his mind. "Catch me if you can!" She's dancing on the warm sand like a nymph, and sea breeze blows about her frizzy blonde hair as she jiggles around. He sees his hands reaching out, grabbing her by the waist, and he starts spinning them both round and round till she wraps her arms around his neck for support, still laughing like a little girl. _

_Everything is so bright, almost blinding, and she's so palpable in his hands_—_l__ike__ a sleeping pill. Caroline plays with his unruly hair humming some simple melody, looking at him like they were some young newlyweds, oh-so-sweet and crazy in love. _

_"What's wrong?" She bites her lower lip seeing his confusion. He's frowning, not able to differentiate between illusion and reality. _

_He's here, she's here. By some weird, unknown power that brought them together in the first place they are together again. His frown disappears, and he cracks a faint smile._

_"Everything's perfect." Klaus keeps rocking her gently in his arms. Caroline buries her head in the crook of his neck and sighs. She feels safe, loved, peaceful. Overcome by a sudden wave of emotion, she cups his face in both hands and presses her lips onto his, closing her eyes and feeling his arms tighten around her. He lets her soft lips pepper his face with butterfly kisses till he can't stop himself from taking control and kissing her hard. While his left hand rests on the small of her back, his right hand holds her neck firmly as their lips crash in a hungry, demanding way. _

_It's been so long since he last kissed her. Two thousand four hundred painful hours. He's been counting. _

_"I missed you so much." She whispers leaning her head against his and looking deep into his blue eyes as their noses touch. Klaus has to admit he's never been in favour of eskimo kisses, but now it seems incredibly intimate and comforting. _

_"I promise I'll never leave you again." His lips travel down her jawline just brushing against her skin, and Caroline dreamily closes her eyes reveling in the pleasure that feeling his skin against her skin evokes. She thinks there's nothing that feels more right than his touch on her body. She tilts her head back to give him better access to her neck and then—_

—_two wickedly sharp fangs tear into her neck, piercing the flesh, causing an unbearable, burning sensation that makes her stiffen in agony, blood flowing down her neck as his teeth sink even deeper, a spasm of panic sweeping over her while he's sucking her dry—_

Klaus jumps out of bed covered with sweat, heavily panting.

Caroline wakes up suddenly with a blood curdling, hysterical scream escaping her mouth.

He looks around in panic, desperately trying to come to his senses.

She gasps for air, clutching at her chest.

Bad dream, it was just a bad dream. Again.

(\o/)

As bad as it may be at night, Caroline's quite successful during the daytime. CAROOKIE business is thriving, and Dean makes a good boss and even a better friend.

Three months ago they brought his old family business to life. Now it's called CAROOKIE, a cake shop. They started off with cookies Caroline baked, but then the customers began to literally coming in flocks, so Dean decided to extend the menu. He sent Caroline to a baking course and two weeks later she became a queen of pie and pastry. He couldn't believe his own eyes when customers were spending hours in their small shop chatting and laughing, as if she was adding some special magic to the products. After a month and a half they had to move to a larger place as they evolved into a full-blown cafe. Two weeks later a special LA Times supplement featuring the most trending new places in the city described Carookie as a '_simple, friendly, cozy yet extremely compelling place where a happy hour lasts all day._'

She got her first raise and her first bouquet of roses from Dean. There were more flowers to come.

Don't get her wrong, Dean's a great guy. He helps her re-paint her small flat and rearrange furniture so it looks bigger and brighter. He pays her good money and even hires Elena on a part-time basis so Caroline can have some free time. He teaches her how to drive—

"Change gear!"

"Where is it?!"

"That big penis on your right!"

"DEAN!"

—and doesn't get mad when she parks his car on a tree.

He's fun and sweet and caring, and totally infatuated with her. That's right, Caroline might be a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but she's certainly not blind.

(\o/)

"I can't stand it anymore!" With her hands resolutely put on her hips, Rebekah yells at her brothers that are sitting in front of a big flat TV screen, staring thoughtlessly at whatever is currently on.

They don't even blink.

"Are you listening to me? I won't put up with this any longer!"

Ignorance doesn't even begin to describe how they are treating her right now.

"I quit!" She shakes her fist at them and stomps out of the room, a dark stormy cloud hovering above her head.

"Did you hear something?" Elijah frowns, his eyes fixed on TV. The other brothers shrug.

"Nah."

Rebekah is pacing in Stefan's room fuming and snorting and raging, and poor Stefan feels like he's getting smaller and smaller every minute. It was very generous of Elijah to take them all in to his apartment in New York, but then all three devils started acting weird and detached, leaving Rebekah's temper in Stefan's hands. Of course it feels wonderful having Rebekah back, Stefan's delighted most of the time, but somewhere between _Women dress like prostitutes now?!_ and _Come on Stefan, I haven't lived at all! _there's that hidden angst, concern for her brothers who have hit the skids some time ago.

"Do you have any idea why they're acting like three-years-old boys on some kind of stupid pills?"

"Well, since you ask, I might have a theory..."

An hour later Rebekah has to pick up her jaw from the floor, because Stefan's story is, to put it lightly, _disturbing_.

It's almost like when he told her last month that Backstreet Boys were no longer popular or performing exactly when she got all their CDs.

"So that's the girl I've seen Klaus sketching when he thought no one's looking." She nods in recognition for her own spying skills. Nothing escapes her notice. She also saw Kol writing a letter in hiding, and she knew Elijah bought two tickets to Broadway but left them locked in his drawer like some kind of guilty pleasure. Something's going on, and Rebekah is close to discovering her brothers' dirty secrets that seem to have the same roots.

There's more to it than just pleasure when she smiles sweetly at Stefan. She-devil is up to something artfully cunning.

"What about going to Los Angeles for the weekend?"

(\o/)

Klaus hides in his bedroom with his typical excuse that he wants to take a nap, but everybody knows he's actually locking himself up to sketch. Crumpled sheets of paper covering the floor could serve as irrefutable evidence.

"So, you wrote her a letter." Elijah's flicking through the channels.

"Dear Meredith," Kol slurs in a bored tone, "we can't be together, 'cause I'm a monster now, so forget about me. xoxo."

Elijah nods slowly. "Close enough."

"And you?"

"I did nothing. Like a coward." He sighs. There's a ghost of a bitter smile playing on Kol's lips.

"Misery loves company."

"Shut up, The Real Housewives of Miami are starting."

(\o/)

Dean waits for her in the hallway as always before taking her to work. She looks like she hasn't slept at all, and it's not just today. The girl that is a ray of sunshine all day seems to be in a vary dark place when nobody's watching. Dean knows it too well because he's been there after his mother died. But Caroline won't tell him the truth, she just shakes her head and shrugs the question off, like everything's a picnic and nothing hurts. Yet her eyes betray her in every way possible.

"Caroline, let me ask you something." He says as he drives through the city. "Did you scream last night? I mean, not in _that_ sense, rather like you were watching a horror movie or... had a nightmare." He doesn't have a supernatural hearing skills, of course not. Dean just happens to live exactly in the flat above hers. Sometimes Caroline finds it unsettling.

"I, um, I don't know. Maybe." She stutters. "We all have bad dreams from time to time. No big deal."

"From time to time?" Dean purses his lips. "Look, I don't want to be nosy, but it doesn't seem like an occasional bad dream. Did someone... hurt you in the past?"

"Dean—"

"I'm sorry, I just worry about you, okay? Don't be mad." He keeps his sad blue eyes on the road, avoiding Caroline's stare.

There's a long pause on her part, that type of silence that brings some perturbing news.

"There was someone. Someone I loved. We both... did bad things. So it was just doomed to failure. I think I'm not over it yet, that's all."

"I'm sure you didn't do anything wrong. You don't do bad things, Caroline, you're like angel or something." A faint smile forms on Dean's face. For him Caroline is flawless. Even customers love her, and CAROOKIE has the highest sales volume when she's working. People come to CAROOKIE not only for something to sweeten their life, they visit Caroline to talk about their daily problems, to share their sorrows or happiness. And she always treats every single customer like they were special. That's the thing about her-being around Caroline makes you feel special.

(\o/)

It's a very busy day at CAROOKIE, and Caroline can't help but wonder how things will look like before Christmas or Valentine's Day. They will need another pair of hands to help, that's for sure. When there are only two customers left in a queue, Caroline lets a sigh of relief.

"Caroline, my dear," an old woman smiles, her wrinkled face lights up at the sight of her favourite cook.

"Hello Mrs. Lane!" Caroline beams at the lady. "How can I help you today?"

"Marry my grandson, sweetheart. He needs a good girl like you." Mrs. Lane laughs. She's always talking about her grandson, apparently a workaholic with the stock market as his mistress.

"Hmm.'' She knits her brows, pretending to be put in an awful dilemma. ''How about today's Carookie special?" She winks at the customer and packs some freshly baked apple pie. When the woman leaves, Caroline finds herself facing a young, beautiful blonde who's dressed like a celebrity, with an air of refinement and mystery surrounding her. That's intriguing, Caroline thinks, people like that don't stop by CAROOKIE. Anyway, stranger or not, she's a customer too, so Caroline musters her smile number 5 and almost sings, "How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for something that will mend a broken heart of a bloody idiot." The girl says in a posh accent. Yup, Caroline thinks, _nobility_.

"Well..." She thoughtfully pouts looking down at the counter, "maybe our speciality, Chocolate Chip Carookies? If they can't mend a broken heart, nothing can." Caroline jokes, but she feels the examining stare that makes her hair stand on end.

"Really? Did they mend yours?" The British girl asks, haughtily squinting her eyes at Caroline. The angel gulps, her body getting tense. Even Dean looks up from above the bills he's going through. Energy in the room shifts. Caroline can swear she hears a clock ticking like a bomb.

Rebekah's eyes meet Caroline's, and she sees something she would always notice, even centuries from now. It's loneliness wearing a mask of every day routine, and sense of abandonment dressed as self-reliance. She-devil knows too well how to recognize a broken heart when she sees one.

A few seconds pass, but it seems like eternity. Strained, deafening silence falls over the room.

"No. They didn't." Caroline mumbles, her gaze fixed on the customer. Rebekah nods.

"Good, we couldn't let you marry that grandson, could we?"

Caroline's too stunned to answer.

"Make it three packs of Carookies."

(\o/)

_They are standing on a rooftop high above the city, looking at colorful lights blending together, glowing beneath them, and stars twinkling above them—all of them like dying embers in a bonfire. _

_And they—they are in between. _

_"Last time we were watching night sky like that was when I asked you to go with me." He says. She's silent, still gazing into colorful space in front of her. "And you made a wish."_

_"I did." _

_"Did it come true?" His voice is soft and soothing. It's been a while since she heard him talking without anger flowing in his veins._

_"No."_

_His jaw tightens as he swallows. She's a bitter pill, a reminder of how much he screwed things up. _

_"I'm so sorry, love." Carefully—almost like she was a piece of porcelain—he takes her hand and gently pulls her closer. A shiver creeps down his spine when he feels her head resting against his chest, and he strokes her hair getting intoxicated by her scent. She smells like strawberries, so fresh and sweet. _

_The building is a real giant, powerful and sinister, towering over Los Angeles with an army of grotesque gargoyles creeping on every stone ledge. When she pulls away from him, she notices she's standing right on the edge of the roof. _

_"What—" She shoots him the last scared glance before he pushes her off into the pot of dancing lights, her dress flapping in the wind while she's falling down, his grief-stricken face getting smaller as the distance between them grows, and she's just about to hit the concrete—_

Caroline's eyes shoot open. She's clutching at the bed cover, fighting to keep her heart from jumping out of her chest.

Klaus awakens suddenly and sits up straight in his bed, staring in horror at his hands like they didn't belong to him anymore.

This hellish torment seems to have no end.

(\o/)

The first thing that happens in Elijah's apartment when Rebekah's back is Klaus getting hit straight on the head by a flying bag of cookies.

He's been painting for the last two days. The picture is dark and chaotic which doesn't surprise Rebekah at all: the artist at the easel expressing his misery through sharp strokes of a brush. Of course he would never admit that. Officially, it's just a painting.

"Are you out of your mind, Rebekah?!" He growls.

"It runs in the family, doesn't it?" She retaliates swaggering into the living room, facing her furious brother.

"What is it?" Klaus mutters, finally taking a look at whatever attacked him. It's a white cookie back with a pink letters that say, _CAROOKIE, LA's sweetest corner. _

"From Los Angeles with love." She must derive sadistic pleasure from torturing him, Klaus thinks.

"How nice of you. Now get out of my sight."

"Is this what you told her?"

Klaus' her slowly turns to Rebekah, and his eyes pierce her like a voodoo doll.

"What did you say?"

"She almost deceived me, that Caroline. She was close, but I've been through too much to let someone pull the wool over my eyes."

"How dare you meddle in my affairs?" He approaches her absolutely seething. "HOW. DARE. YOU."

Yet Rebekah looks unfazed by his boiling rage as she stabs him in the back once more saying, "She's devastated. Good job, big brother. Give her more time, and her boss who's drooling over her will eventually get to comfort her."

"It means nothing to me!" He brandishes the brush at her, splattering paint all over her face and her expensive clothes. Rebekah raises a mocking eyebrow at him. He'll pay for damaging Chanel later.

"Did you forget I always know when you're lying? Always."

He can barely talk through his gritted teeth. "I should have never undagger you. Love messes with your head, little sister. Your loverboy Stefan makes you unbearably _sentimental_."

"Go right ahead." She challenges him keeping her head high. "Laugh at the girl who loved too easily, and live your miserable life of a man who couldn't love at all."

His clenched fist start trembling, but words get stuck in his throat. He struggles to articulate anything that would have some sense, but he's left with nothing to say. Seeing him so distressed, Rebekah's angry expression turns into a worried frown.

"I just want my brothers back, Nik."

(\o/)

When Klaus gets on the plane, still gloomy and angry, he discovers that he has, in fact, a company. His seat is exactly between Kol's seat and Elijah's seat.

"What are you doing here?" He groans raking his fingers through his short curls. "Wait, let me guess."

Kol and Elijah give him exactly the same jaded and desperate look of someone who's walking the plank on a sinking ship.

"So I thought."

(\o/)

Watching sunsets on the beach usually helps Caroline clear her mind. Not caring about her white dress getting dirty she sits down on warm sand and hugs her knees. There's something nostalgic about sunsets. They seem like the saddest goodbye even though you know the sun will be back again in the morning.

She just can't shake these dreams off. They look so real. Surreal, yet incredibly tangible—when she touches him, when he kisses her... and when he hurts her.

After that British girl's visit, Caroline gets even more confused. Everything about the posh customer reminds her of three devilish brothers. Her posh attitude was so Elijah, her cheekiness—so Kol, and her temper—so Klaus. But it makes no sense. Caroline doesn't even know if they are alive, or whether they got back to Earth or stayed in Hell. She hasn't heard from Stefan either.

At first the dreams weren't so violent. In the beginning it was just his blurry face floating somewhere in space. But as days went by, Caroline's dreams became heartbreakingly realistic and more violent.

Is is what he told her? _I will hunt you down and make you pay._ Is it his revenge?

She told him she forgave him, but months later when she looks back on what happened she's not so sure any more. If he'd really loved her, he would've found another way to save his sister. He just selfishly assumed Caroline was his for the taking. It's not love, it's ownership.

She was his only hope, but he let his wounded pride take control of his actions. He chose the easiest way out over her own good. If she hadn't found Elijah, he wouldn't have known about Kol being alive, and Klaus wouldn't have learned about the other solution. Yet she loved him, she still does.

He's a sinner to her saint.

"Ugh!" She groans irritated with all these thoughts nagging her. She gets up and brushes down her dress, ready to go, when some odd feeling tells her to turn around. Caroline screams in terror when she sees a pair of familiar blue eyes boring right into her. As if on cue, her heart starts racing uncontrollably, her breathing becomes quick and erratic.

Klaus keeps his head low staring at her from under his lashes. His face looks as guilty as when he pushed her off the rooftop in her dream. Caroline's eyes widen in panic. _Oh no. Please no._

He takes a step towards her opening his mouth to speak—

—but before he can utter anything Caroline's fist collides with his nose as she punches him hard on the face. He staggers backwards, stunned by the blow.

And then she starts blindly running for her life.

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: Klaus just keeps getting hit in this chapter, doesn't he? Team Barbie!

CAROOKIE was coined by my lovely Lysa aka irrationallyrational :) Her carookie drawings are just awesome!

I didn't lie to you when I said this story was ending soon. This was probably the penultimate chapter (because I'm still not sure about the epilogue), and the next is the **final** one... Dun dun dun!

.

BTW, I love when you guys talk to me on tumblr, anonymously or not. Don't stop, I get high on your messages and go out on the streets to hug random people.


	19. to lose thee

**A/N**: If you've read the sneak peek and listened to the playlist I posted on tumblr, you are ready to go. A double final update, because I say so.

* * *

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**to lose thee**_

**...**

(\o/)

_So forcible within my heart I feel_

_The bond of Nature draw me to my own;_

_My own in thee, for what thou art is mine;_

_Our state cannot be severed; we are one,_

_One flesh; to lose thee were to lose myself._

_[John Milton, Paradise Lost]_

(\o/)

So much for a happy ending, Klaus thinks as he sees Caroline run right into traffic screaming bloody murder. To his disadvantage the beach is close to the road, and there's a lot people around even in the evening, so running after her would equal making a scene. And, in case you didn't notice, he's not some drama queen.

He'll wait.

That's what predators and fools in love do.

Caroline gets home at breakneck speed leaving a trail of stunned old ladies after her. Not every day a young girl that doesn't really seem possessed is running through the city screaming that a devil is after her. But you never know with this young generation, they say, one day they spend all day in front of their laptop scrolling down some blue page with pictures, and the next day they find home in a psychiatric ward.

She locks the door and pulls out her suitcase from under the bed. First thing her body tells her is to run. Run away, hide somewhere, anywhere, in the middle of nowhere, and hope he never finds you. But when she looks down at the—still empty—suitcase some odd nostalgia seizes her. There's that nudge that her mind is giving her:_ does she really want to abandon what she worked so hard for?_ After all that happened between them, can't she just muster enough courage to look him straight in the eyes with her head up the boldest way ever?

Shouldn't she finally pull that thorn out of her skin?

With her heart still pounding like a thousand of hammers, she sits on the edge of her bed and waits.

She'll wait.

That's what bold (and probably suicidal) women with a past do.

(\o/)

Kol strolls through the hospital hallways, sharp mixture of blood and detergents burning his nostrils. Damn, he hates hospitals, this time for real. A light bulb above his head starts to flicker, then the other one, and then another. Yes, he definitely doesn't fit here. He hasn't mastered his supernatural senses yet, and if PMS is Pre-Monster Syndrome, he's surely having this one too. Everything, and he really means _everything_, is getting on his nerves.

A lady in a room at the end of the hallway has gotten a blood transfusion earlier today, he can smell it. Red blood cells dancing in her veins now, microscopic life-giving petals. He could rip her throat open, she wouldn't have time to scream. He could drink from her till there is nothing left in her, not even a droplet, and no life in her eyes.

Elijah told him they don't have to do this. If they do, it's their own choice. Kol hates the fact that he can't even blame others—just himself. His monster side is urging him to dart to that room and kill off the woman like a writer kills of a heroine in the last chapter. She was fighting so hard, and when everybody thinks she's safe at last, death takes her away laughing in the reader's face. He could do that. He would love that.

As quick as it came, the psychotic episode is gone, and Kol is standing in the hallway looking around lost and confused. Then someone clad in white pops out from around the corner, dark hair falling into her face while she keeps her head low, examining some files she's carrying.

"Meredith." Kol gulps and darts to the nearest patient room closing the door after him and leaning against it. He's panting like he just ran a marathon. When he regains full consciousness, his eyes meet a pair of tired but still curious blue orbs. An old lady is sitting in a bed, her wrinkled hands working on a ball of wool like a knitting machine. Kol's frightened stare must tremendously amuse her, because she's barely holding a laugh.

"What's her name?" The woman creaks. Kol scratches the back of his head leaving his hair in a mess.

"Whose name?" He asks absent-mindedly.

"The girl you're hiding from."

"I'm not hiding." He pouts.

"Of course you do." She shakes her head like a grandmother that mocks her grandson. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything." And that's the problem, actually.

"Right. Just so you know, I can easily recognize a man with a guilty conscience. I buried three husbands."

Kol's jaw drops. "Alive?"

Then the door opens and he falls to the side getting stuck between the door and the wall. Not a bad hiding place considering who comes into the room.

"Dr. Fell." The lady greets Meredith, and Kol squeezes his eyes. _Shit. Shit, shit, shit. _

"How are you feeling today?" Meredith's sweet voice makes Kol grit his teeth. It wasn't supposed to go like this, not in the slightest.

"Excellent. I could go home right now." The patient laughs.

"Well, that is... quite possible." Dr. Fell smiles, takes a minute to auscultate her patient's heart and take her blood pressure. She writes something in the patient's card, and turns to leave. "It looks promising. We'll talk tomorrow."

When she's gone, Kol peeks from behind the door, and the lady gives him a conspiratorial wink. He runs his head through hes hair letting a relieved breath.

"That was close."

"Now I understand."

"What?" He huffs. The old lady expectantly raises her eyebrows at him. "I just didn't want to be seen."

"Clearly."

"I'm here by mistake."

"Of course."

"And I'm not running. Especially not from Meredith."

"Dr. Fell."

"Right."

"Yes."

"I'll better be going."

"Good luck, boy."

(\o/)

Of course he comes after her, but not before hours pass and she relaxes letting her guard down. Then he pops up, and he doesn't even bother to knock. When the door opens, and it opens despite the locks she put, she's waiting for him by the kitchenette. He stands in the doorway staring at her back while she's pouring hot water into two cups.

"Great timing. Kettle's just boiled."

"Has your panic finally subsided? You don't look so scared anymore." Klaus muses not taking his eyes off the back of her neck.

"My suitcase turned out to be too small for all I have right now." She turns around and leans against the kitchen counter crossing her arms. "Looks like you won't get your revenge without a fight."

Klaus takes a step forward, and Caroline's arms uncross ready to take the guard position. There are many boxing styles, one of them is a counter puncher. This type waits for the opponent to make a mistake and then takes advantage of it. Caroline did exactly the same thing to stop the Apocalypse. It's her style, to lure the opponent into a false sense of security, letting him think he's got the upper hand, and then turn it all against him.

Klaus, on the other hand, is the brawler type. Harsh, straightforward, brutal. When he fights, he fights with raw power. Sometimes all it takes for him to knock the opponent down is one punch.

"If you had let me explain you would've known that I come in peace ." Caroline's lips part when she hears his words and sees that his candid eyes agree with his tongue. There's so much tension in his features. She turns away and looks down at the tea cups.

"Sugar?" She asks dryly.

"No, thank you."

"How's Kol?"

"Fine. He'll surely pay you a visit soon."

"Your sister?"

"Living happily ever after with Stefan."

She nods slowly. So everything went well for him, Caroline thinks. She lost her wings, her identity, her home, but he got what he wanted. He got his family back while she was left homeless. And she, in all her naivety, thought she was the winner. She thought she won the final battle. But it was never about her, was it? It was always about Klaus. She won so he could win.

"I'm here to seek your forgiveness." Caroline needs a moment for this to sink in. He came here for what? Is this some kind of a cruel joke? A new trick?

"You got my forgiveness long time ago, I told you. What do you really want?" Her hands slightly tremble, so she doesn't pick up the cup. She won't let him see she's nervous. Deep down her heart, under the mask of a bold fighter, she's terrified.

"What I mean by having your forgiveness," he gets a bit closer, "is having you back."

Caroline's heart breaks, like the last time wasn't enough. Like three months of maddening dreams couldn't stop, he's standing here in front of her pale face, her quivering lip, her trembling hands. After basically threatening to kill her, after almost sending her to Hell, after leaving her life in smithereens, he comes out of nowhere and says he wants her back.

"You want me back?"

He just lowers his head, looking at her with his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Then what you want isn't forgiveness. You want me to forget what happened."

He doesn't even try to deny it. He remembers his mother's words: Forgiveness is not a chore-it's a gift. The stupid neither forgive nor forget, the naive forgive and forget, the wise forgive but do not forget.

"But I can't, Klaus."

It feels like they are on the stage in some kind of an absurdist play, and the silence that falls between them is utterly surreal—at least to Klaus. Caroline seems to rather stay down to Earth. She knows that reason is the only thing that can protect her from getting hurt again.

With another step forward, he already invades her personal space hovering above her with those still, hurt, gray-ish eyes of his. Then he senses some odd vibes around her. How come he didn't notice it before? Despite the fact that his touch probably makes her skin crawl now, he puts his hands on her shoulders, trapping her at his arms' length between him and the counter. There's a mixture of dread and fury painted on his face, telling the world to prepare for his wrath.

"What happened, Caroline?"

It costs Caroline all her strength to look him straight in the eyes.

"They took my wings." It's all she can choke out. Klaus' eye twitches as he swallows hard, his stare fixed on her. They stripped her off her wings. They took her sense of identity, the only thing nobody would ever dare to take from an angel, even Klaus, even in Hell. Wings are everything for angels, if you take them away, you _humiliate_ an angel in the worst way possible. Those heavenly bastards and their stiff rules, he thinks, but he knows the bitter, cruel truth is that it's all his fault.

In his long devilish existence he felt guilt only a few times. It was a sharp pang shooting through his heart when Rebekah was locked up. It was a sudden stab of pain when his mother was banished from Hell. But now...

Now it's a disastrous fire burning in his chest, devouring something he believed he was devoid of —his heart. For the first time in his life he feels like a fish pulled out of water that fights for breath, choking. Never has he felt this consuming pain, never in his entire life. He used to think about himself as an empty glass with no feelings at all, but right now he's filled to the brim with terror.

Caroline shakes it off first, and musters a smile. It would be a perfect smile, the one flight attendants give to passengers, but Caroline is smiling through tears, the corners of her mouth won't go up no matter how much she tries.

"Anyway, I think congratulations are in order. You got what you wanted."

He vehemently shakes his head, "I never wanted you to get hurt."

"When did you think I wouldn't get hurt? When you were lying to me about giving me a choice, or maybe when you were _'making memories'_ with me?" She spits, her tone caustic. "Or maybe when you forced me to drink your blood so I couldn't go back to Heaven?" She could go on, yelling at him for leaving her traumatized, for turning her nights into nightmares.

He cringes at her words about drinking blood. If it _does_ have a side effect, she'll have one more thing to add on her 'why I hate Klaus' list, as if it wasn't long enough already. He clenches his jaw, not knowing how to tell her this.

"Wait." She squint her eyes at him. "I know that look. It's your guilty look."

"It's not. I don't have a guilty look." (If you ever had any doubts, now you know for sure that Kol and Klaus are brothers.)

"Yes it is!" Caroline presses her hands against her chest, trying to intimidate him. Now they look like two wrestlers, his hands still on her shoulders and she pushing at his torso.

"Klaus."

"It's nothing. Maybe it doesn't affect angels." He tries to calm her down, but it only makes her angrier.

"Klaus!"

He gives up. "Remember when I bit you?" Of course she remembers. "I drank your blood. And when I gave you my blood last time... The process got, kind of, completed then."

"What are you talking about? What process?"

"Blood sharing."

Caroline's eye widen at the thought of what they did. "But my blood must have been out of you system by Kol's birthday."

"Are you having hallucinations? Or... nightmares?" Horror in her eyes is the answer. It means those phantasmagoric dreams were haunting the two of them. He curses through gritted teeth.

She finally shakes off bewilderment she's in, pushing Klaus away. "Get out." She hisses at him, her fist clenching.

"Caroline—"

"Get. Out." She grabs a heavy wooden meat mallet from the kitchen counter.

"—love—"

"I'm not you love." She moves forward, he stumbles backwards.

"—sweetheart—" For Klaus the mallet looks too convincing in her hand, so he keeps backing away.

"Oh believe me, I'm far from being sweet right now." And she swings it like a sword, staring at him with demented eyes. When he reaches the door, gaping at her all the time, she sends him an insane shark-like smile. "Run out of pet names so soon?"

Klaus swears her sanity is out to lunch. Caroline looks like she was about to go berserk, and it surely involves his face getting smashed with a kitchen utensil.

"You manipulative, abusive son of a gun. GET. OUT." For Klaus third time's the charm, and he darts off, making a mental note to prepare himself better next time.

He lost a battle, but war is still on.

(\o/)

Meredith sits down in her office looking through her patients' files. There's one that has been intriguing her for some time now. Caroline, a mysterious girl with no last name, with an unidentified blood type, knowing surprisingly a lot about Kol's life. And when Kol disappeared with his new-found brother, Caroline disappeared as well, not to mention Klaus. All Meredith knows is that she knows nothing now.

Kol's gone.

And Rick is pursuing her again. Speaking of...

"I hope I'm not interrupting." Rick peeks from behind her office door. She gives him a tight smile.

"I brought you coffee."

"I've just had one."

"And chocolates."

"I'm on a diet." She rolls her eyes.

"So maybe you'd like to go to the movies? We'll buy diet coke, I promise." He grins at her. Meredith is about to give him some lame excuse about having to save lives and all that doctorish stuff, but she sees someone enter her office.

Kol's upper lip curls up in anger at the sight of some douchebag stalking her in her work. It's incredibly easy to infuriate Kol those days, you have no idea.

The man that stands too close to Meredith for Kol's liking cocks a haughty eyebrow at him. "Excuse me, buddy. We're talking."

''I'm pretty sure I don't care.'' He walks up to him, his face unreadable, his eyes fixed on the stranger, not caring that he's considerably taller than Kol. When he's just a few steps away, Kol's pupils dilate.

"You will go and never bother Meredith again."

Rick slightly tilts his head, and then says in a flat, expressionless tone, "You know what, I'll go and never bother Meredith again." And he leaves, just like that.

Kol shakes his head and blinks. He's never done anything like that. What the hell took over him?

Meredith is no less stunned seeing her probably-ex-boyfriend that hypnotizes people in her office. Neither of them knows what to say.

"Hi." Kol ventures. Meredith crosses her arms which doesn't bode well.

"Like Dr. Frankenstien would say, _it's alive_." She tries to appear offended, but one look at him makes her surrender. He's too pale, with dark circles under his bloodshot eyes. He's even a bit thinner that before. His hair is in chaos—in fact he's a complete mess.

"Oh my God, Kol, you look like you've been to hell and back."

"Funny choice of words." Kol grimaces. The caretaker in Meredith can't just be left without answers. She gets closer to him and gently puts her hand on his cheek, looking at him questioningly. "What happened to you?"

"I'm sorry for the letter. I can explain—"

"What letter?"

"I wrote you a letter. I told you I'm a..." Then it becomes clear to him. Of course she had to steal the letter. "Damn you, Rebekah."

"Wait, that girl from your dreams? What's going on, Kol?" She's about to withdraw her hand, but Kol grabs both her wrists and brings them to his lips.

"If I told you the most unbelievable story on Earth, would you still love me?"

"I never said I—"

"But you do. I hear your heartbeat. It's racing." He kisses her wrist, and she gasps feeling her knees start melting.

"Because I'm angry at you." She stutters. "You left without a word." Oh my, he's sucking at her skin. She's about to close her eyes and let herself just enjoy it, but Kol wants to talk.

"If you don't want to be with me after what I tell you, I'll understand. But you have to know the truth."

"O-okay." _Damn you, Kol,_ she thinks, _just keep kissing me_. But to her disappointment he lets go of her wrists and locks the door. This might be necessary in case she freaks out.

(\o/)

Elena is on her way from work to Caroline's. She enjoys working at CAROOKIE, the customers are just lovely, and Caroline bakes the best cookies in the whole world. Dean's nice and helplessly in love with the blonde, Elena smiles to herself, every one who comes to CAROOKIE knows it from the start. It's so obvious, almost like he had a note glued to his forehead. Elena, being a romantic type at heart, thinks it's sweet, even if his feelings will remain unrequited.

The angel is waiting for green light to cross the street when she sees a familiar face on the other side of the crosswalk. A familiar face, familiar hair, familiar suit. A very familiar devil is staring right at her with an impenetrable look in his eyes.

The green is on, and she moves forward. So does Elijah. They meet in the middle of the zebra crossing, they stop, and they keep staring at each other.

It would look like a scene taken straight from a romantic comedy, but then the light switches to red and they are met with a chorus of beeps coming from irritated drivers.

"Do you fancy a walk, Elena?" Elijah asks unyielding to drivers' threats. With a simple flick of his finger he silences all cars within three-mile radius.

"Shall we?"

(\o/)

It was a wise thing to lock the door to Meredith's office—Kol pretty much freaks out. Yes, _he_ does.

He tells her everything—about his past and origin, about Caroline saving his life, about his childhood and why he always felt different, why he was a loner. Then Caroline was back in his life and so Klaus appeared, and as the two of them were trying to fulfill their contradictory missions they probably fell in love. Caroline saved him, Elijah enlightened him, Klaus supported him, and they freed Rebekah.

They sit for an hour or even more while Kol tells her the terrifying story of the rescue mission, going to Hell and coming back changed. He tells her about the weird light bulb thingy, his craving for blood, his violent outbursts. Elijah tried to teach him to control it, but all he got was a blue eye. Sometimes he hallucinates, and in his visions he's killing innocent people. Sometimes he feels like a manic-depressive.

And right there, after everything she's heard, she says she won't let him leave her again.

He says he's a spawn of Satan, and she just shrugs, _no big deal, we all go a little mad sometimes._

"I think of killing people."

"So do I, once a month."

"I'm a monster, Meredith." He shakes his head frantically. "How can you—"

"Show me."

"You don't want to see it. And I would never forgive myself if I accidentally hurt you." He finds it harder than ever to look her in the eyes, her trusting, sincere eyes. "I've seen dead decaying bodies, I'm sure I can handle this."

And so he closes his eyes and lowers his head. After a second a pair of two dark pupils stare at Meredith, just inches away, they stare right at her. Branches of dark veins spread under his eyes, and when he bares his teeth she sees two pointy canines. Kol's breathing quickens, the smell of her blood pumping through her body is intoxicating. He's an animal, a wild, savage creature. His mind gets clouded with blood lust. The beast in him fights to take over and ravish her, tear her to shreds, suck her dry—

—then she cups his face with both hands and brings his face to hers, their noses touch. He feels the warmth of her palms against his cheeks, and then her lips brush against his. Kol's so taken aback that at first he freezes, not believing his senses. She gives him time, breaking the kiss, waiting for his reaction. Tentatively, as if he was afraid she'd change her mind, he parts his lips and slightly leans forward, his eyes remaining dreamily half-closed.

As he kisses her his fangs retract, the veins fade, and his eyes go back to their normal state. He was sure she'd be disgusted with him, that she'd run away screaming, that she'd call him a freak of nature or even worse. But Meredith has tamed the beast.

"Nobody is born a monster." She tells him while stroking his hair. "Monsters are made, and I won't let you become one."

"Does that mean..."

"Yes."

(\o/)

Elena and Elijah walk around a nearby park, the moon is up, and Elijah offers her his shoulder to hold. Last time they saw each other he was doing everything not to touch her, not to get close to her, like she was leprous. Now she's walking arm in arm with him, listening to a casual speech about the weather.

Talk about awkward.

When they sit down on a bench, Elijah turns to her. He has that solemn look on his face that makes Elena think he'll finally apologize, or at least address their situation (if there is anything to address after all this time), but no.

"How do you find Los Angeles?"

"Excuse me?"

"The city. Do you like it?" Oh boy, he's got that serious look and he's asking her about the city?!

"Yes." She mutters. "Love it."

"Hmmm."

She won't give him the satisfaction, not this time. She'll play his little game if she has to, because if he cares about her at least a little, he'll start THE conversation. She tried before, now it's his turn.

"You don't have a lot of free time, do you?"

"Actually I do." Elena looks up at the night sky. It must be nice to fiddle while Rome burns, isn't it, Elijah?

"Oh. Well. Good." He starts fidgeting with his tie. "Because I happen to have two tickets to Broadway's Phantom of the Opera for this weekend." She slowly turns to him and gives him a quizzical look. "And I thought we could go. Together."

She frowns. Is this what she think it is?

"But it's in New York."

"I know. A little trip won't do any harm."

"You want me to go to New York?"

"I'm _taking_ _you_ to New York. And then to the best theatres in Europe. And then to Sydney Opera House. And then to a small cottage in the Alps, a cozy one, with a fireplace."

She's left speechless, which Elijah takes for a sign of hesitation. "If you let me, of course."

Maybe it's not the best way of saying I'm sorry, but let's face it, Elena isn't a saint either. He had every right to treat her as he did, considering she lured him into thinking she loved him just to kidnap his brother. But even though she betrayed him, she did love him, she just couldn't follow her heart then.

But she won't make the same mistake again. They will talk about what happened in the past eventually, but for now they'll just live a honeymoon life, they'll enjoy their time together, they'll let themselves forget who they are—because, after all, does it really matter?

She takes his hand off his tie and keeps it in hers. "I'll be delighted to go with you. Anywhere."

(\o/)

"You have to be a man, brother!" Kol's pacing around the room. "Be the alpha male!"

Elijah is polishing his shoe, and shaking his head with resignation. "No, you have to be a gentleman, be straightforward, offer her the world."

Klaus sulks on the couch. "Yeah. Were you acting like the alpha male, Kol? Really?"

"Of course!" The youngest huffs. He deftly and conveniently skipped the fragment when he freaked out and Meredith had to calm him down. It's not a story you tell your brothers.

"And you, Elijah, were you truly straightforward? No talking about how warm the night was? Asking her about some silly stuff?"

Elijah just glowers at Klaus strenuously polishing the shoe till it shines like a Ming vase. Klaus knows his brothers well even though they didn't keep in touch for a long time. It just must be a family thing, he assumes.

Still, his brothers aren't the problem here. Caroline went _loca_ and he didn't like it at all. He had hopes. Nothing too fervent, rather a glimmer of hope to reach some kind of understanding.

Apparently when she lost her wings she also lost patience to put up with him. The thing is, while his family has to put up with him for obvious reasons, Klaus realizes that Caroline doesn't have to. Not anymore, after solving the Apocalypse problem she is free to leave his sorry ass. If he wants her to stay, he has to make her—but not by force, not by manipulation, not by lies.

He's been always lousy at good deeds—you can't really blame him for that—but he has to try.

…

..

.

..

…

**A/N**: **Lookie lookie! There's one more chapter to go! Yay! But before you go there, feel free to review. :)**


	20. with thee to go is to stay here

**Paradise for the Lost**

**...**

_**with thee to go is to stay here**_

**...**

(\o/)

_In me is no delay; with thee to go, _

_Is to stay here; without thee here to stay, _

_Is to go hence unwilling; thou to me _

_Art all things under heav'n, all places though, _

_Who for my wilful crime art banished hence._

_[John Milton, Paradise Lost]_

(\o/)

Caroline's up for work early, probably because she couldn't sleep all night afraid that she'd have nightmares induced by blood sharing again. She has an hour before CAROOKIE opens, so she decides to make herself a nice sugary cup of coffee. It's her ninth dose in the last ten hours, but she regrets nothing. It's better to be hyped up than tormented in your dreams.

The door bell rings as somebody walks in, and Caroline's about to go all control-freaky and point out it's not the time yet, when she sees—

"Kol!" She ducks under the counter and runs towards him, then throws her arms around his neck and gives him the tightest hug he's ever got. Kol wasn't prepared for this, and they almost fell to the ground because of Caroline attack. He wraps his arms around her and closes his eyes for a moment. He missed her, still after everything she'd done for him he didn't even properly thank her.

"You have no idea how glad I am to see you're safe and sound!" She coos still keeping him locked in her embrace. When she finally releases him, Kol has an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sorry we didn't talk earlier. Everything happened so fast and it's still a bit... weird for me."

"I know." She nods smiling understandingly. "Come on, have a seat, we have some catching up to do."

And so they talk while drinking coffee and eating pie. Kol tells her the story of going to Hell, how it affected him, but not only him.

"If it wasn't for Meredith, I would feel like a monster all the time. She keeps me sane."

"Maybe she's your guardian angel." Caroline winks at him squeezing his hand reassuringly. Kol looks different, that's true, but he's still the same boy she rescued two decades ago.

"No, I think you are." Caroline wants to protest, but Kol shakes his head. "No, let me thank you, Care. I owe you my life, in fact, twice. You had to deal with so much shit I can't even imagine, yet you've moved on and you're living your life. You are amazing." Seeing her eyes darken a little, he frowns. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She shakes off whatever was on her mind a moment ago, and gives him a wide smile. "Do you want more coffee?"

"Caroline, are you on coffee high again?"

"I don't know what you're talking about.'

"You know coffee is not the answer."

"But—"

"It's my dear jackass brother bothering you again." Kol's mind was never sharp like a chainsaw, but since his devilish self resurfaced, he started to put things together, getting smarter and smarter. It's kind of annoying if you ask his siblings. Rebekah can't stand Kol's comments about her bossing Stefan around, Elijah threw a shoe (yes, THE shoe!) at him for pointing out that Elijah's shower singing would never be enough for Broadway, and don't even get Klaus started on Kol's prattling about the golden rules of successful love life.

And now, seeing Caroline's face, Kol is right again.

"Listen, Klaus is as evil as it gets," Kol says, digging into his pie, "but if there's anyone in the world who would give up his life for you, it's him."

"No, that's not Klaus. He just loves himself."

"Let me tell you something. When we were on the way back from Hell, Mikael spotted us, and we had to run. I was carrying Rebekah, and Elijah wanted to cover our back, but Klaus told him he'd do it. Do you know why? Because he had nothing to lose. I had to protect Bekah, and Elijah—as much as he didn't want to admit it—still had hope to see that wingy friend of yours. Klaus, on the other hand, knew he'd lost you. Elijah told me he had never seen such indifference in Klaus' eyes. He really didn't care about himself that moment. Even when he got shot, it didn't matter to him."

Caroline shakes her head. Kol's words aren't helping her, in fact the story is like the final nail in her coffin. "How do you know all that?"

Kol huffs looking offended, his mouth full of pie. "Because I'm smart? Duh."

They both burst out laughing, and Kol almost chokes on the last piece of pie. Caroline, however, feels tears slowly welling up as she laughs, and just when she thinks she'll break down and cry, her phone rings.

"Elena?"

"Hi." Caroline raises an eyebrow. She knows this kind of '_hi_'. It's Elena's warning '_hi_'. It's a '_hi_' that tells you something you won't like is to follow.

"Is Dean there?"

"No. Why do you want to talk to Dean?"

"Because I have to quit. I'm... leaving LA."

"What?! Why?! How?! What are you—"

"With Elijah."

Oh, that's quite unexpected, Caroline wants to say. When Kol told her he's back with Meredith it was something Caroline was hoping to happen. But Elena and Elijah patching it up? After everything that happened?

"I know what you think, Caroline. Please don't be judgy."

"I'm not!"

"Yes, you are. You're like the judgy Elena I was once."

"Okay, fine, I am! You know I love you like a sister, Elena, but Elijah isn't exactly a forgiving type. And neither are you, to be honest."

She could swear Elena smiles to the phone. "Caroline, we are supernatural creatures that are supposed to live forever. You can't nurse a grudge against somebody for eternity. It will drive you mad eventually."

Caroline never thought about it this way. It's actually the first time Elena made her wonder about the eternity awaiting her. Kol has Meredith, Elena has Elijah, and Caroline will be left alone. People around her will die, and she'll be moving on and on till she sees everything and becomes a bitter, jaded shadow of herself.

Forever.

(\o/)

A pair is rolling on a bed, making out. The girl giggles like a teenager while the guy is kissing her neck.

"Oh my, Jeremy stop, it tickles!" She laughs. Then the apartment door flies open, and the lovers stop and stare in horror as Klaus walks into the room, an ominous frown on his forehead.

"What are you doing here?!" The girl screeches, pulling the bed cover to her chest.

"Hello, Bonnie. I think it's time you and I have a little chat." He grins making the angel swallow hard. She protectively puts an arm in front of Jeremy.

"What do you want?"

"You took something that rightfully belongs to Caroline. I'm here to convince you to give it back." Klaus says in a calm, semi-polite tone. He promised himself he will do the right thing, without blackmailing or killing people—Caroline wouldn't like it.

"She can't get her wings back. It's against the rules." Bonnie seems as relentless as Caroline used to describe her.

"So is having an affair with a human boy." He innocently points out.

"I can't do it." She hisses through the gritted teeth.

"What do you want in return for her wings?"

"From you?"

"From me."

"You are eager to give up anything so she can get her wings back?"

"Just name the price."

"There is no price. You devils think everything can be achieved by making deals, but no, it can't. She betrayed Heaven, and she's not getting her wings back. I can't help you."

Klaus tilts his head to a side and narrows his eyes at her, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.

"You know what, Bonnie? Screw good deeds." A second later he's got Jeremy's neck in his steel grip, and poor boy is slowly turning blue.

"Stop! Please, don't hurt him!"

"I'll make you an offer you can't refuse, angel." He grins. "If you do what I _politely_ asked you to, I'll owe you one. And believe me, it will come in handy when the bad boy you fancy dies. Because one day he will, you must be well aware of that, and when he does, we both know where he'll be heading, along with other drug dealers. Then I will make sure he won't share their fate. Come on, be a bit selfish, Bonnie."

"You don't rule Hell, you can't promise me that."

"But I am free to hang around in Purgatory." He cleverly retorts. "So? Do we have a deal?"

"I knew you would try some dirty tricks." She sighs giving up.

Klaus should get a golden star with 'you tried' written on it. He really did try to act like a decent chap. It just didn't pay off.

He releases now-purple-Jeremy, and heads to the door with a confident smirk. "You know what they say, sweetheart. All's fair in love and war."

(\o/)

_Caroline is on the rooftop again, staring at the city's night vista. It seems even brighter than the last time she saw it. Ocean breeze is caressing her cheeks, and she's absolutely mesmerized by the city lights. Somehow for her they mean hope. Even in the pitch-black night there's that flickering light that makes it less frightening, and sometimes even beautiful._

_There's a sudden change of wind, and when Caroline turns around she sees why. _

_"What are you doing here?" She asks, but as much as she wants her voice to sound harsh, it's in fact soft and gentle. This time it's not her mind that speaks, it's her heart. _

_"Making sure Bonnie keeps her end of the deal." _

_Caroline's breath gets hitched. "What deal?" Then she sees Klaus step forward as he slowly approaches her, taking careful steps so she won't panic. _

_"To fix you." He reaches for her hands and pulls her to his chest. He's almost invisible in the dark wearing black clothes. As black as devil is painted. Against her better judgment, she lets him hold her, or rather her heart lets him, because her mind is screaming at her not to get close to him. _

_"But I can't be fixed." She sighs resignedly clinging to him, closing her eyes. _

_"Yes, you can." He rests his chin on the top of her head. "They took your wings, but you're still full of light. There's hope for you." _

_Then he picks her up, and in the blink of an eye Caroline finds herself on the edge of the roof top, her dress flapping in the wind. Klaus is right next to her with his hand resting at the small of her back. _

_"What are you doing?" She trembles as his hand presses harder against her body. "Klaus, don't!"_

_"It's for your own good, love."_

_"Stop!" _

_"Do what you have to do." And with these words he pushes her off the building once again. She wants to scream at the top of her lungs, but when her eyes close and her lungs prepare to let out a blood-curdling shriek, she feels the wind stops blowing, and the world isn't spinning around her anymore. _

_She stopped falling! A single feather dances in front of her eyes, and Caroline stares at it in awe. Then she looks around, and notices that-it's impossible, she thinks, it can't be true, but still-her wings are back. But how...?_

Caroline almost springs to her feet when she opens her eyes. The digital clock on her nightstand shows midnight, so she turns on a small lamp standing next to the clock. This dream has thrown her off guard—

"Good evening, Caroline."

—scratch that, Klaus sitting on the edge of her bed really throws her off guard. She's about to ask him what he's doing here, but hope painted on his face tells her she knows. Words get stuck in her throat, so she just gapes at him, her eyes brimming with tears.

She has never felt so close with anyone else. Maybe because they are both supernatural.

Or, maybe it's because she really fell for him—for a selfish, cunning, arrogant devil.

_You will always be fond of me. I represent to you all the sins you never had the courage to commit._

"You did it. You fixed me." She gasps. Klaus gives her a warm, kind smile she thought she'd never see, and strokes her leg through the bed cover.

"I couldn't stand seeing you broken."

If this is their happy ending, she has to be sure it's not a dream. Still in awe, she reaches out to touch his face, to caress his cheek, to make sure he's real this time.

"Wait." He splutters. "I have a speech prepared." She raises her eyebrows at him, giving him an incredulous look. He takes a deep breath, and fixes his eyes on hers. If he wants to do this, he'll do it right, looking her straight in the eyes.

"When we first met, I thought you were just some distraction. A scatterbrained, naive angel, a perfect pastime till the end of the world." He expects her to frown at him giving him a scolding, but Caroline's face brightens at the memory, and she presses her lips together to hold back a laugh. So he continues, "Then you started messing with my head, and I ended up totally obsessed with you. Like a fool. You were a shot through the heart. I was—okay I still am—so full of myself. I took you for granted, and it backfired at me."

"Klaus, I know I—"

"Caroline." He reminds her. "It's my speech." She makes a gesture of zipping her mouth.

"The nightmares we were sharing, they happened because I tried to forget about you. My mind was doing its best to erase you, but it failed, I failed. You told me you loved me when I thought no one ever would, and I fell in love with you when I thought I wouldn't. I might not love you _the way you want me to_, but it doesn't mean it's not love."

With the last word he lets out a breath like he's been holding it all this time. Caroline looks at him with her jaw hanging low.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"How many romantic movies you had to watch to tell me this?"

"Six."

"And getting at me with my own words. Clever, very clever." Okay, he doesn't _completely_ suck at being romantic.

Klaus frowns, confused by her amusement. Didn't he just confess that he loved her? Didn't he just pour his heart in front of her the best way he could? He spent almost ten hours watching some pansies chase girls carrying their broken hearts on the silver plates, and it's all for nothing?

He gets up from the bed and rubs his temples standing with his back to Caroline. She can see his silhouette in the dim light of a small lamp, his broad shoulders and the arms that used to hold her at night.

Klaus turns his head slightly, just so she can see his profile, but he doesn't look at her when he asks, "Is it a joke to you?"

He does look hurt. When Caroline doesn't answer, he takes a deep breath, shakes his head, and starts walking towards the door. He reaches for the door handle when long, slim fingers wrap around his other hand. Before he can realize what she's doing, her face gets dangerously close to his, and her kisses start burning his lips like a shower of sparks out of a bonfire. When the first shock wears off, he wraps his arms around her, his hands wandering over her back feeling her delicate skin under the thin fabric of a night shirt. She cups his face in her hands and tenderly whispers against his lips,

"Does it look like a joke?"

His face lights up as he leans forward to kiss her again. He missed her lips like one misses his home, a place where you don't have to pretend. It feels so good to have her back, like when you put the last piece of puzzle in the right place and then the picture you tried so hard to build is complete.

Caroline breaks the kiss and her arms wrap around his neck in a tight embrace.

"Promise me you'll never let me down again."

"I promise. And you promise me, no more meat mallets, love."

She laughs resting her forehead against his. "I promise."

Elena was right. You can't nurse a grudge against someone all your life. It will eat you, destroy you, take away all joy from your life.

Klaus will never change, and Caroline won't either. The beauty of this is, _they don't have to_. It's exactly about who they are. Mutual attraction. Push and pull.

It's not their happy ending, Caroline corrects herself. It's just a happy beginning.

(\o/)

It's not true that when you want something, the whole universe is helping you to get it. No, it's actually the other way round. When Fate wants you somewhere, with someone, in a certain moment in time, you'll get there eventually, even if you defend yourself tooth and nail.

Sometimes Fate binds you to someone, and no matter how far away you try to run, your paths will cross again. Sometimes Fate is a bitchy little creature that keeps playing a tug-of-war, pushing you towards someone just to violently pull you back a second later. And you keep dancing like that, one step forward, two steps back. Push and pull.

The day Caroline saved Kol's life was the day when her fate was decided. She was meant to be a part of his family, and so it happened.

She fell in love with a different kind of monster. A selfish, cunning, arrogant devil—oh, he's perfect.

_You must be pretty special if you made my brother's cold heart beat again,_ Rebekah states. Klaus' heart does not beat for Caroline, it pounds.

(\o/)

Caroline remains Kol's guardian angel, and he will always have a special place in her heart. When you commit yourself to something once, you commit yourself to it forever. They are family.

The only thing nobody told Kol was that, unlike angels, devils _do_ procreate. So when Meredith comes one day with some pretty shocking news, Caroline is the one Kol holds on to (but eventually he faints anyway). She's also the one to smack him hard on the head when he says it would be hilarious to name his kid Spawn...

...but that's just, my dear readers, a whole other story.

...

_**Hell is empty and all the devils are here.**_

...

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**THE END**

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**A/N**: I hope you like the last two chapters. You know I'm a sucker for fluffy endings so... yeah.

Are you still here, guys? Guys...?

THANK YOU for going with me through this crazy story. I never thought it would get so much attention. (It even won Klaroline Awards on tumblr! You are AMAZING, people!) Thank you for reviewing, following, and talking to me via messages and tumblr. People on the streets keep running away when they see me, they all know what I do to strangers... thanks to you! ;)

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If you like AU/AH stories, I'm getting back to _Null and Void:_ lawer!Klaroline with a lot of angry!Datherine, and some other pairings tagging along. Check it out if you want!

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_Psst! I do plan a PFTL Xmas Special. _


	21. strike the harp and join the chorus

**Summary:** Kol is hit by an existential crisis, Caroline wants to teach Klaus a lesson, Rebekah deals with Christmas 101, and Elijah finally finds a new practical application for his ties.

* * *

******Paradise for the Lost**

**Xmas Special**

**...**

**(\o/) **

**_strike the harp and join the chorus_ **

**(\o/)**

**...**

Kol waves at a bartender to order yet another round for him and Klaus.

"I want to just tie Caroline up and lock her in your bedroom." Kol gulps down his drink, then lets out a deep breath. He does look tired. The youngest brother is having a really hard time, and the spirit of Christmas isn't helping.

"Oh man, believe me I want to do the same." Klaus shakes his head with a wistful expression on his face, and raises his glass.

The reason for their concocted plan that would never be put into practice is simple: girl power took over their small devilish world. Meredith's advanced pregnancy has awoken Caroline's protective instinct. That's the problem with angels—once a guardian, always a guardian. Now Meredith and Caroline are inseparable, and Kol and Klaus are getting more and more frustrated.

"You better stop your girlfriend from bothering my girlfriend."

"Mind your words, little brother, it's _your_ girlfriend that's bothering _my_ girlfriend." Klaus snarls. They both feel pushed into the background. "It's her fault I haven't gotten any in a week." He sighs.

"You poor man." Kol's voice is dripping with irony. "I haven't gotten any in months!" He might have said it a bit too loud. Two full glasses land in front of them at the bar counter.

"Drinks on the house." The bartender, who probably heard everything, throws them a sympathetic look. It makes the devils feel even worse.

The whole thing started innocently. One day Meredith felt a bit dizzy while sipping her decaf at CAROOKIE, so Caroline took care of her. They started to spend more and more time together, picking up clothes for the baby, talking about back pains, nausea, and all that preggo business. Step by step, almost imperceptibly, their time for Kol and Klaus was shrinking like socks in the wash, to be finally limited to (sexless) nights only.

It doesn't take long for Kol to slip into an existential crisis.

"The worst thing is, I know what this kid will go through." He props his head on both hands, staring into his glass of Jack. "All the time in minority, feeling different, being a recluse. Been there, done that." There are days when Kol still seemz unable to get over his past and childhood marked by rejection and loneliness.

"You forgot to add being one of the most powerful creatures on the planet." Klaus raises his eyebrows at Kol.

"No matter how powerful I might be, I was in the minority and it _sucked_. You can be the most powerful creature on the planet and still feel utterly alone like I did. "

(\o/)

Not only Klaus and Kol struggle with some December blues.

Elena is lying on the bed waiting for Elijah. She's spent a lot of time looking for the right thing to wear. And by thing she means lacy red lingerie. They are supposed to go out tonight, but Elena thought a bit of spontaneity wouldn't hurt anyone. Besides, who would be so stupid to turn down his half-naked girlfriend waiting for him in their bedroom.

The door opens and Elijah gets in putting a pair of designer cufflinks on. He sends Elena a quizzical look.

"I thought we could stay in for tonight." She purrs and stretches out her arms and legs, arching her back in a very suggestive manner. Elijah blinks twice like she's just told him a very confusing joke.

"We are leaving in ten minutes. I can't even imagine us being late. It's _Rigoletto_, Elena. Please, dress up my dear." He scolds her like a little girl and exits the bedroom in search for a proper tie. He has over two hundred of them, it always gives him a headache to decide which one to wear.

Elena falls back on the bed exhaling with frustration. So much for spontaneity tonight, or any other day for that matter. She flinches at the thought of the other day when she suggested they could go to the movies. Movies! Elijah laughed for a minute, so she laughed with him, and then he said, NO. Cinema is for peasants.

She loves her highbrow, classy boyfriend, but she's an angel that has never seen the world, and living like a princess, going to sophisticated balls, cocktail parties, operas, and theatre plays isn't exactly the life she wanted. She wanted to be among normal people, not sitting in a fancy cage.

With a sigh, she opens an antique, mahogany wardrobe. Dolce, Chanel, or Gucci?

(\o/)

Rebekah and Stefan are spending this winter in the Big Apple with Elijah and Elena. Rebekah can't decide what to do with an excess of free time. She's torn between setting up a fashion blog and becoming a famous fashionista, and taking the designer business in her own hands. Yes, she had too many re-runs of the _Devil Wears Prada._ When they stop for a coffee, after Rebekah's harping on about Vogue and its latest photoshoot involving Madonna ("How old is she anyway? Did she make a deal with one of my brothers or what?") she finally voices her concern for Stefan.

"What's wrong? You seem upset." She puts down her cup with mocha and locks her eyes with his.

"Nothing's wrong." He shrugs and musters a tight, fake smile. "Actually, it's my happy face." He sulks in an incredibly uncomfortable armchair. How can people sit for hours in Starbucks, he grimaces as he fidgets in his seat, this coffee isn't even that good. The coffee shop is full of Christmas decorations, colorful tree lights, and it smells of cinnamon all around them.

"Come on, Stefan. You know I always know when you're lying to me." Well, it doesn't take too much of genius to figure out Stefan's not in a merry mood. He looks down at his cup of espresso macchiato that tastes like Caroline's burnt cookies, and lets out a sigh.

"It's just Christmas. It feels... weird. I might even risk a statement that I would like to join the club."

Rebekah pouts. "But aren't you technically banned from the club? Besides, we do not celebrate it. It's religion, Stefan. Stay away from it. We did not invent this."

"I know, but every one is happy, people spend time with their families exchanging gifts and there's so much good will around. I think nobody is excluded."

"There is so much love around for, like, three days, and then people go back to hating others." She points out and takes a sip of her coffee.

"I thought we could have Christmas dinner, buy some presents, give in to the Holiday mood." He ventures although he knows it's a lost battle.

"What do you expect me to do?" She huffs, irritated. For some reasons Stefan's comment seriously irked her nerves. "Maybe I should send a Christmas card to my beloved Papa and forgive him for sticking a dagger in my heart? What do you think, huh? Welcome to the Magic of Christmas! After my dead body!"

"I was just feeling sentimental, that's all." Stefan sulks even more staring at his half-empty cup of nasty coffee.

(\o/)

After work Caroline goes straight to Meredith, and when she finally gets back home late at night, Klaus is halfway through a bottle of red wine. Alcohol is his only friend during lonely evenings that seem to drag on and on forever. She finds him sprawled on the couch with the bottle in his hand, his feet resting on a small coffee table in front of him.

Too angry at her for neglecting him, Klaus doesn't mince his words. "When, pray tell, are you going to stop playing a good Samaritan?"

"What are you talking about?" She stops in her track frowning at him.

"I'm talking about your taking Kol's place in Meredith's life. Don't you think he should be the one to take care of her?"

"But Kol is totally lost, while she needs somebody strong, somebody to depend on." She says matter-of-factly.

"If he's to be a father, he has to get used to his new duties. Your constant presence is, to put it lightly, hindering the process."

"I am helping him!" She protests, hurt by being criticized by Klaus for her good intentions. Little does she know what road to Hell is paved with.

"No." He shakes his head, gets up from the couch, and walks towards her, his walk a little unsteady. Towering over her, he says, "It's Kol's task to figure out how to put himself together. Especially now."

Caroline doesn't respond, she just stands there, defiantly looking away from him. She feels his hands wrapping around her waist and pulling her closer, her head resting on his chest. Klaus rocks slowly back and forth, humming into her ear, stroking her hair, resting his forehead against hers.

"Why don't we spend some quality time together? Hmm?" He murmurs as his fingers creep up her stomach and stop between her breasts playing with the button of her shirt. His lips are hovering over hers ready for a kiss, but then Caroline gently pries his fingers off her as she says,

"It's your task to figure out why we won't."

And she leaves him standing stupefied in the living room.

(\o/)

The cross-cultural conflict reaches its boiling point when Caroline comes up with an idea of spending Christmas in New York. All of them. Together.

It divides the family into two enemy camps. Team Grinch doesn't even want to hear about celebrating Christmas.

You must be out of your mind, Klaus snorts.

I find it highly inappropriate therefore impossible, Elijah states.

Not now, no way, Kol grimaces.

Rebekah just throws her shoe at Stefan.

So Team Christmas decides to celebrate on their own. It's the first Christmas on Earth for Caroline, Stefan, and Elena, and they want it to be perfect, like in a movie. They choose New York, of course, because there is no other city soaked with Christmas spirit like New York. Meredith joins them as well-maybe Kol doesn't feel like celebrating Christmas after his big transition, but for her it's been always a special time of the year, and she's not giving it up because her boyfriend is a whiny turncoat now.

(\o/)

After many you-are-not-going-anywheres and even more stop-packing-right-nows followed by Klaus brandishing a finger at her with a fine-go-but-remember-about-the-consequences threat Caroline leaves with Meredith to meet Elena and Stefan in New York. But it would be too easy if they went alone. Eventually, Kol and Klaus secretly stalk them Pink-Panther-style to the city.

It's snowing heavily in New York, and what's a better solution to icy cold weather than a randez-vous with Jack Daniels? An annoying Christmas song is playing over and over again in the bar. Really, Mariah?

Soon two more people sit down by their table, rolling their eyes at the festive atmosphere that reigns around them. Elijah and Rebekah both look rather gloomy, which gives the other brothers a reason to think they're not the only ones going through a rough path with their partners. Elijah takes a piece of paper that looks like a Christmas card out of his pocket and reads aloud, a cloud of quiet anger hanging over his head.

"Dear Elijah," he seethes through the gritted teeth, "I decided to spend Christmas with Caroline. Please understand me. I will be back soon. Enjoy the Broadway tonight. With love, Elena." He expectantly looks up at his siblings and slowly places the card on the table.

"You were lucky. Stefan just texted me. Not a single emoticon." Rebekah crosses her arms and glares at Klaus.

"Don't give me that look, Rebekah. It's not my fault."

"Of course it isn't. Like it wasn't your girlfriend's idea." She hisses.

"Maybe if Kol could be a man just once, she wouldn't have thought about this ridiculous meeting!"

They look at Kol who's been banging his head against the table for a while now, repeating, "I'm damaged goods. A crappy father. I will make a crappy father."

"Is he alright?" Elijah frowns. Kol stops and now lies still on the table with his hands on both sides of his head.

"Daddy blues." Klaus shrugs. The bottle they bought is almost empty, so he waves at a waitress to bring them another one. If they are going to solve the Christmas problem, they will need that.

"I should be with Meredith and little Spawn right now." Kol whines, sniffing. He's been drinking since they got to NY. He went through the funny phase, and the angry phase, and now he's experiencing the breakdown phase.

"Who's Spawn?" Rebekah cocks an eyebrow.

"Kol's kid."

Elijah shakes his head, sighs and takes the bottle the waitress has just brought. "Five minutes with you all and I really wish Elena was here. Staying with you is like riding merry-go-round all the time."

Kol burps, dizzy all of a sudden. "I know how you feel."

(\o/)

"What do you mean we can't cook here?" Caroline puts her hands on her hips, about to go all Xena on the hotel manager.

"It's a hotel, not a summer cabin by the lake. We cook for you, we cater to our guests' needs." A dull middle-aged man lectures her displaying high standards of etiquette. Elena flinches at his French moustache.

Team Christmas sigh in unison. Looks like they are doomed to spend Christmas without cultivating the tradition of preparing meals together, but it won't discourage them from relishing the Christmas spirit. Caroline still feels a bit cheated. She wanted to go on a baking spree, she spent hours to pick the best recipes, and now all her effort will go to waste.

The hotel isn't to their taste much, and it's not about decorations or quality. It just doesn't feel like home. There is plenty of strangers everywhere, all brought to New York by the same wish of spending Christmas in the city that never sleeps. It doesn't feel special, being among other tourists that accidentally inhabit the same space for a short period of time. It doesn't feel like family.

It's still around noon, and they have a lot of time till Christmas dinner is served, so Team Christmas ventures into the streets on a sightseeing mission.

"Whoa, Time Square is really as crowded as it is shown on TV." Caroline's jaw drops. People are swarming around, the lights are blinding them dulling their sense of direction. Caroline feels like she's suffocating, and for a second she wishes Klaus was here with her so she could hide in his arms like she always does when she feels crushed by the surroundings. Elena bites her lip, everything around them reminds her of Elijah. She's wondering if he went to the musical as he intended to. A faint, melancholic smile appears on her face.

They move on, and Meredith laughs at the Statue of Liberty, "Kol would try to peek under her robe, that's for sure." They all smile, thinking about possible reactions coming from their better—or rather worse—halves. Rebekah would just shrug, she's seen New York so many times nothing seem to impress her anymore, but she would drag Stefan along to see every landmark anyway. It's their never-ending competition: proving who knows the place better. Stefan's area of success is New Orleans, she's never beaten him there so far, but when it comes to New York, Rebekah just keeps surprising him every time.

A deep, pensive sadness embraces them as they stare at the monument.

(\o/)

They've been arguing for a few good hours, throwing accusations, curse words, and eventually even food at each other. Finally Kol slid under the table after Klaus punched him in the face stopping Kol's litany of grievances, and has remained there like in a safe haven. Rebekah launched at Klaus clawing at his face with her perfectly manicured hands, while Klaus tried to kick her off balance aiming at her knees. Elijah sits perfectly still until his eye twitches signaling his Great Wall of Patience has collapsed.

"Enough!" He pounds his fist against the table, rendering everyone speechless. This is a fatal dose of his siblings' company. No more.

"I don't care how it looks like, we're joining them for Christmas." He declares, which leaves Rebekah and Klaus petrified, and even Kol to scrambles off the floor and sends Elijah an incredulous look. "If we don't, I might just dagger you all."

His siblings pretend to argue and sulk a bit—old habits die hard—but eventually agree to wave a white flag.

"Do you even know what to do during Christmas?" Klaus sits down and reaches for the only glass of whiskey that didn't get broken in the fight.

"Perish the thought, brother. But Kol surely knows, considering his long stay on Earth."

"I don't." Kol rolls his eyes.

"Come on, Kol, spit it out." Rebekah growls.

Kol sticks his tongue out at her. "I really don't know. My mother was a pagan, okay? She worshiped Mother Earth while I grew up to be an atheist. Don't judge me."

Oh bugger, Elijah thinks as he slaps himself on the forehead.

"It can't be that difficult," Rebekah reasons, "all it takes is a research."

(\o/)

Four devils, troubled and confused, lean over the desk and look down at the list they've made.

"That's..." Elijah starts.

"Impressive." Rebekah says.

"Tick off the sleigh and the reindeer." Kol frowns. "We don't have time for that."

"I'm not wearing a red costume." Klaus warns. "And I'm not carrying presents in a sack either.''

The others look at him peeved. It was supposed to be the biggest surprise, but Klaus stays unyielding to either threats or pleading. "No."

Elijah gives up. "Fine. We stick to a Christmas tree and gifts under it, mistletoe—"

"Yeah, gotta love mistletoe." Kol grins rubbing his hands.

"—and food."

"No carols." Rebekah demands.

"No carols."

"Bekah will decorate the apartment, Elijah gets the tree, and Kol and I will go get food from a restaurant." Klaus obviously loves barking orders.

"Your wish is my command, your majesty, and who's getting our guests?" Kol mocks him. Klaus brings a clenched fist to his nose and throws his brother a threatening glare.

A cunning smile spreads on Rebekah's lips. "Leave it to me."

_Decking the halls_ isn't as easy as it seemed. Finally Elijah decorates the Christmas tree with his ties, because he finds the ornaments Kol bought too dinky. It's a tree, not a street lamp, Elijah says. Rebekah almost falls off the ladder while hanging up the mistletoe.

''People actually kiss under this? Yuck.'' She makes a face. Humanity and its ridiculous, crazy ideas. There's many things you could kiss under, but why bother when you have a plant that absorbs nutrients from another plant. You could just as well kiss under a leech or a vampire, what's the difference?

''Do you know some people believe that animals can talk on Christmas Eve?'' Elijah keeps browsing through various websites.

''Really? Too bad Kol's a nonbeliever, he would keep his trap shut for the rest of the year.'' She ticks the mistletoe off the list. There's still some things to take care of, but they're getting closer to finishing the preparations.

''And why do you have to hang _stockings_ above the fireplace?'' Rebekah pouts. ''Is this some kind of weird fetish or something? And what if they catch fire? I don't want my favourite silk stockings to get burnt.''

Kol has no idea what kind of food people eat for Christmas dinner, and when Klaus suggests something Italian, a restaurant chef burst out laughing right in their faces, earning a punch from Klaus as a result. Of course they get kicked out by the security officers.

''Screw you right in your pudding!'' Kol yells getting up from the pavement, receiving indignant glares from the passers-by. He doesn't feel even a tad bit merry.

(\o/)

Caroline and the others are on their way back to the hotel, none of them really eager to chat. Somehow the jolly season isn't affecting them in the way they thought it would. They all just smile while looking at their friends, and they go back to brooding.

It was supposed to be a joyful Christmas adventure in New York City, but somehow nobody feels in the mood. The worst thing is, Caroline feels like it's all her fault. She made their friends fall out with their loved ones, because she thought she'd teach Klaus a lesson on compromising. Looks like he's quite immune to good intentions though.

As they wait for an elevator to come down, they hear a phone ring, _I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world, life in plastic, it's fanta__—_

"Rebekah." Caroline picks up.

She sees Stefan mouth, offended, "Barbie Girl? Really?"

"Meredith has the same ring for her!" Caroline hushes him, and when Stefan looks at Meredith she just shrugs being caught red-handed.

"What? Wait—Okay, calm do—Bekah. Bekah? Bekah!" She tries to catch Rebekah, but Klaus' sister has hung up already.

"What happened?" Stefan frowns, his voice gets stuck in his throat.

"Something's wrong. She sounded horrified. We have to get to Elijah's apartment, like, now.''

Stefan doesn't even hesitate and rushes down the hall, the rest following him with worried faces and a bad feeling.

(\o/)

Rebekah hangs up and turns to her brothers that stand looking at her in awe, a winner's grin on her face.

"You put up quite a show." Kol nods slowly.

"What do you think I do to make Stefan do my bidding?" She wiggles her eyebrows.

"Well, sex would be my first guess."

"You underestimate the power of emotional blackmail, little brother."

Klaus and Elijah hold back a smile.

(\o/)

Stefan doesn't bother to knock and just kicks the door open. He storms into Elijah's apartment with Caroline and Elena running after him. Meredith can't run, so she patiently pushes the button and waits for the elevator. She remembers she can't get stressed, not now, but she involuntarily worries anyway. It does feel weird that something unexpected happened and Kol didn't even call her. It's sown the seeds of anxiety in her heart. For the sake of their baby she tries to keep her breathing steady and does everything she can not to nurse gloomy thoughts. When the elevator hits tenth floor, she hurries towards the open door and joins the gang standing in the doorway.

She gasps, as did the rest of them just a minute ago.

There's a Christmas tree in front of them shining with lights and... wait, are those Elijah's ties? And the walls are decorated with paper chains. They find themselves surrounded by green and gold and red, all blending into a cozy, warm glow that harmonizes with wooden surrounding. The members of Team Christmas frown. What is this magic?

They split to look for their partners. Stefan finds Rebekah in her room. She's standing with her hands folded in front of her, like she was a little girl about to recite a poem during a memorial.

He stops in the doorway and helplessly spreads his arms. "What's going on?"

"I was just feeling sentimental." Rebekah bites her lower lip anxiously waiting for his reaction. She doesn't have to wait much as Stefan takes her into his arms and spins around, earning a squeal from his girlfriend.

(\o/)

Elena knocks on Elijah's bedroom door and when she hears nothing, she gently pushes the door that open with a creak. She comes further into the room, but Elijah is nowhere to be found—

—till someone embraces her from behind and a pair of hot lips claim her neck. Elena laughs and turns to face Elijah, who looks so damn smug, obviously content with his surprise attack.

"You should be packing." He smiles mysteriously.

"And why is that?"

"I have a surprise for you. We're leaving tomorrow. I really wanted to get us on a plane with peasan—I mean people, normal people, but all the tickets were already booked."

"Why would you do that?" Elena can't believe her own ears.

"You might have sent me a message that was intended for Caroline's eyes." He says cautiously, and Elena covers her mouth with her hand. She did send a very angry, grumpy message about her boyfriend being stiff the wrong way. Yes, she did express it so. Elena swallows hard, her cheeks getting red. "But before you start to apologize, let me say you were right. I might have been a little too... starchy."

Elena's eyebrows go up so high there's little room for them on her forehead. Elijah is definitely in the mood for surprising her.

"So you can choose the destination, and I promise we'll be doing whatever you want. We can go to every cinema we find in our way, and we can even choose a cheap hotel if you insist on living among pe...ople, normal people. Yes." He looks into her eyes searching for some kind of a sign. Does she like the idea? Does she hate it? However, he stops wondering when Elena's lips crash into his.

(\o/)

Kol and Meredith stand in the kitchen. Not that Kol doesn't have his own room at Elijah's, it's just Meredith's cravings that force them to stay where they stay. Pickles with whipped cream have just beaten Lay's with Nutella she had the other day.

There's a lot about pregnancy that scares Kol, most of it being a tiny little satan in there that seemed to enjoy weird meals and mood swings, but it's the first kid in the family and maybe even the only one considering angels don't procreate. It really means something, so he should ditch the images he's been carrying in his mind, visions taken straight from the Exorcist, the Omen, or Devil's Advocate. (There was a time Kol would puff his chest and boast that Spawn would rule the world, but Meredith said it herself that she would never let their kid go to Law School.)

They have their differences when it comes to parenting, but it's that strange paradoxical love that keeps them from falling apart.

"I really want to be your hero, your Captain America or something, but I can't." Kol says, knitting his eyebrows together in a grimace. He's evil, and even though he's having a hard time right now, soon he'll be back to snapping at people, and maybe even attacking poor old ladies in dark alleys. (He flinches at the thought, because they do have an awful taste.) But being evil is one thing, and being a father is something completely different. As crazy as it sounds, for Kol they aren't mutually exclusive.

"I've been always more of a Loki's girl, you know." She lets out a little laugh. He really doesn't have to change, Meredith just wants him by her side, that's all.

"I know I suck at parenting now, but I promise you, _I promise_, I won't let you and little Spawn down." He goes on and on, and doesn't notice that Meredith suddenly flinches.

"And I'll be there for you—"

"Kol—"

"—and even though I've never had a father figure—"

"Kol!" She grabs onto the kitchen counter.

"—please Mer, let me finish—"

"Kol, I think—" She bends over clutching onto her belly.

"I promise I'll read all the books in the world about parenting and stuff—"

"Oh no."

"—and I will never let Spawny drink, smoke, or gamble."

Then Meredith lets out a piercing scream. Kol stands there speechless and astounded.

"Kol, I think it's started!

(\o/)

Caroline heads to Klaus' bedroom, and she checks herself out in the mirror that hangs in the hallway before she gets in. For a reason unknown even to her, when she puts her hand on the doorknob, Caroline's heart flutters like it was their first date (which, technically, they never had). She feels excitement building in the pit of her stomach, some kind of thrill. She opens the door and sees Klaus, in a suit and a white shirt with a few upper buttons undone, leaning back against the window.

"Good evening." His voice is as seductive as his stare aimed at her, and Caroline can't help but gasp when chills run down her spine. She shudders as blood starts pumping in her veins, but her inner control freak doesn't let Klaus be in charge so soon.

"Wow." She crosses her arms, trying to play tough. "Mr. Grinch Grinchelson finally gives in to the magic of Christmas."

A wave of heat jolts through her when Klaus pushes himself off the window and in a few confident strides closes the gap between them. He tucks a strand of her hair behind her ear, his fingers brushing gently against her flushed cheek, and leaning forward he whispers, "I'm pretty sure it's all your charm, love."

It takes her less than a second to grab the collar of his shirt and pull him into a passionate, ardent kiss. It's so good to feel his face against her face again. To hell with control, she thinks while his hands run up and down her back. Somewhere in the corner of her mind there's a thought that maybe she was too harsh to him. Maybe she did neglect him.

"I'm so sorry," she pants out while he's peppering her neck with hot wet kisses, "I shouldn't have—"

"Shhh." He hushes her not taking his lips off her skin. There was too many words and too little action lately. All Klaus wants is to restore their relationship to its former balance. And for him to do that, Caroline needs to stop talking for once.

That's not true that the only solution to a problem is a deep, meaningful conversation.

Sometimes a passionate sex is more successful.

With one swift movement he grabs her butt and lifts her up, her legs wrapping around his waist in the process, and they land on the bed, the mattress sags under their weight.

"Wait." Caroline huffs, even though Klaus doesn't pay much attention to it. He keeps sucking at her collar bone, trailing circles with his tongue. "There's an oven in Elijah's kitch—_oh heavens please don't stop__—_kitchen, it means I can—_yes, more_—bake cookies."

"Caroline, love," his teeth graze the delicate surface of her milky-white skin, "please stop talking." She arches her back, molding into his form, giving him more access to the zipper of her dress, so he can free her from the beautiful yet so redundant right now piece of clothing. Her French nails tear into the fabric of his shirt then her fingers slide down to the small of his back, pulling the shirt out of his pants and creeping under it to revel in the feeling of his bare skin under her finger tips. Her touch makes him groan and quicken his actions. His hips grind into hers and _oh yes_ she does feel he missed her like crazy. He makes it more than obvious. His hands travel up her thighs squeezing them, and Caroline moans as she feels his tongue sweeping over her skin between her breasts. He knows it's her weak point, so he buries his head into her chest and a proud smirk plays on his lips when she grabs at his locks and massages his scalp.

"Oh my... Yes." She fights for breath while propping her feet on his back, locking him in a tight embrace of her long, slim legs. He wins the fight he was having with the stubborn zipper of her dress and is about to pull it down when the bedroom door bursts open.

"Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Guys! Gu—FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" Kol immediately turns around and covers his eyes. Not that he minds a bit of a show, of course not, but there are more pressing matters at hand. Both Caroline and Klaus spring up from the bed, the angel's trying to zip up her dress with one hand while keeping it up against her chest with the other.

"Have you gone mad, Kol?" Klaus growls.

"It's started, Klaus!" Kol whimpers. "Spawn is coming!"

(\o/)

The hospital hallway is decorated with evergreen and there's even a mistletoe some horny doctors hung up to hit on the nurses. Kol's pacing in circles, Elijah's tapping his finger against his knee, Elena and Caroline are doing a list of names for the kid, because—no matter what Kol says—Spawn is definitely NOT a good name. Rebekah and Stefan fell asleep on the couch across the hallway, and Klaus is counting to infinity in order not to punch Kol in the face once again. It's been hours now, and Kol's freaking out even though a nurse tells him it's a totally normal thing.

"The process of normal human childbirth is categorized in three stages of labour," Kol reads aloud from a leaflet that's lying on a small table in the corner, "the shortening and dilation of the cervix, descent and birth of the infant, and birth of the placenta. EWWWWWW!"

Rebekah wakes up, and groans, "If you don't shut your mouth, the next thing to come out of it will be your teeth!"

"But there are pictures and everything here. Ugh." Kol's face contorts with revulsion. His sister doesn't have time to respond as the door from labour ward open and a grey-haired man with a white coat stained with blood comes out. All of them (except Stefan who's still asleep and snoring lightly) stand up straight eagerly waiting for good news.

"Congratulations. A perfectly healthy boy." The doctor says, patting Kol on the arm. Kol is so shocked he just nods with a goofy smile on his face while doctors continues, "A pair of lovely little horns on the head, a pitchfork tail, and two tiny hooves." Kol stops smiling and stares absently at the man.

"Wait, what?" He mumbles before fainting and falling to the floor with a loud THUD. Klaus would catch his little bro, but he prefers to just move aside and let Kol hit the ground. (Don't look at him like that, Kol had it coming.)

Everyone gapes at the doctor, and then Klaus pulls a wad of dollars out of his pocket and gives it to him.

"Thank you, doc."

"Merry Christmas." The doctor-prankster grins and walks away, giving them a salute.

"I must say," Elijah says when the first shock wears off, "I am proud of you, Niklaus."

Caroline just shakes her head, but laughs at unconscious Kol anyway. As if on cue, Stefan wakes up and rubs his sleepy eyes.

"What did I miss?"

Rebekah smiles taking him by the hand, "Christmas just got truly merry."

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**Merry Christmas my dear readers!**


End file.
